


Only By the Night

by theSyndra



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Mild Kink, Roller Derby, Smug!Korra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-09 13:44:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3252002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theSyndra/pseuds/theSyndra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The [Roller Derby fic] where Korra's the hotshot new rookie playing for the Metal Banshees, and Asami's just struggling to keep up with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. So, this happened.

Roller Derby's not just a sport, it's a _lifestyle._

It's a tight-knit community of women who like to get all dressed up in kneepads and tights and knock each other around on a slanted track. The teams are about as close as any team for any sport can get. And the DeadlySpirits are the best roller derby team anyone can hope to be on, Asami thinks. She also thinks Republic City, by far, has the best banked track derby rink in maybe the entire world.

She's not at all biased by the fact that it's where she played her first game ever, back when she was on her ass more often than not and she hadn't figured out she has a natural talent for being a jammer.

The Republic City rink itself is kind of old, bits of it falling apart. And the track could be better, has these little spots you can snag on if you're not paying attention or just used to it. But what really sells it is the Republic City crowd. It is objectively the best crowd any roller derby league could ask for. There's nothing like skating out to thousands of cheers thundering through the rink to get  _anyone_ pumped up for a game. Asami feels like she's a part of something greater, like she's elevated, when she skates in. It's fucking amazing.

Tonight's bout starts no different than any other — the ref blows the first whistle and the blockers take off, then the opposing jammer turns to Asami and says, "Try to keep up bitch-face," and then the second whistle blows and Asami makes it through the pack first.

The thing is — Asami's one of the best jammers to ever play the game. She's just that good, and it's not even her bragging, it's everyone telling her she is. It's not surprising, though. Since her father got put away she's dedicated almost one-hundred percent of her time to the sport. It was just helping to cope at first, but then it became a part of who she is. She even did a year outside Republic City but the competition wasn't half as good, and the skaters weren't nearly as talented. They were... nice enough, they had heart, they just didn't have the skill the players have in the city.

Well, there _were_ a few notable players - Asami actually met the best blocker the DeadlySpirits have back in Zaofu and convinced her to come with her to Republic City. Kuvira's practically unstoppable now and Asami wouldn't have it any other way.

"You're really on your shit today," Kuv says as Asami skates to the bench for her first break. She nods to Coach Varrick to say she's ready whenever and shoots Kuv a half smile as a thanks.

She's going over everything in her head - all the shit they need to do now and all the shit they need to practice later. Their formation's a little weak on one side and they're lacking the type of coordination they had at the end of last season, but things could be worse. As far as first games go, this has been a fairly good one.

And then Asami's back out there, dodging hips and swirling around shoulders. She gets clipped by one hip, pressed to the bar, but she doesn't go down, just picks back up and swivels around the blocker, rolls in for an extra four points. Afterwards, she skates to the bench all red cheeks and smiles. She's just happy to be playing again after the longest break ever. "Good job, ladies!" she says between ragged breaths and gulps of water. "Lets just tighten up a bit, control the pack, and bring home the first win."

There's a bit of cheering from the girls and then coach comes over to Asami. "They're putting in the rookie as jammer," he says.

Which is, unusual. Putting in the rookie when the team is up is one thing, but putting in the rookie when the team is down is - basically throwing the game. Asami glances over and - well, okay. The rookie isn't exactly what she expects. She's used to nerves and general awkwardness, but this girl is - she's entirely sure of herself, or at least looks it. And she's... cute. Short hair and bright eyes, toned - _really_ toned - and she has a great jaw and perfect body and fuck, Asami's staring.

If they're actually throwing her in there she _probably_ at least has some since of what she's doing, so Asami needs to stay focused. The girl is still a rookie no matter how good she is, so Asami can probably get in her head.

She skates back to the track, positions behind the blockers and flashes a smile to the new girl. She's normally not much for talking to the opposing team, but she can't help herself for some reason. "What's the name?" she asks, and makes sure it sounds like she doesn't _actually_ care.

The girl blinks slowly, just taking Asami in, and then she says, "Korra," and her voice comes out as nothing but confidence and aggression and she's obviously way better than Asami at making it seem like she doesn't care even though she only said one word. It makes Asami want to put her in her place more than anything else. Which is weird since it's just a rookie, but whatever. She's a bit competitive.

"Just Korra?" Asami asks, and Korra shrugs. She's about as nonchalant as they come. Who the fuck is this girl.

"Haven't thought of anything cooler yet," Korra says, then she laughs a little. "You sure you're a derby girl? Didn't make a wrong turn looking for the beauty pageant?"

It's not that Asami hasn't heard that before, but coming from Korra it just seems _particularly_ rude.  "Well, _Korra_ ," Asami says, extra emphasis on her dumb name, "this pretty face is about to be the _only_ good thing about your night."

She winks as the first whistle blows and the blockers take off. And Korra laughs again. She actually loosens up and it's the first time Asami's seen her not look so tense and, well, Korra's really pretty and her eyes sparkle when she laughs and Asami should definitely not be noticing either of those things. "You know," Korra says and leans close enough that Asami can see just how blue her eyes are, "I'd still count that as a win." She flashes a lop-sided grin, and it may be the craziest thing in the world, but Asami has to actively stop herself from ogling.

That was - um. "Oh." she says, distracted in the worst way, and she doesn't quite hear the second whistle. And _that'_ _s_ how she loses a jam to a rookie for the first time. It's embarrassing, really.

Her head's back in it for the next jam, though — except Korra's all up in her shit from the get-go. It makes Asami feel defensive, like she's trapped and getting angrier by the minute. She wants to lash out in no particular direction, but she needs to keep it together. Korra just keeps it up, being smug and saying random shit, all mocking and fucking confident. Asami can't even jab back anymore, manages to trip over her own skates right next to Korra and then Korra's laughing at her, "Good one, Asami. Keep it up."

Right before the next jam starts Korra looks at her and says, "You know, you _are_ really pretty," and it pisses Asami off way more than it should. Like, to the point where it's affecting her game. It's just, Korra's an all-out _hooligan_ and she needs to be stopped. She keeps saying shit like that, _flirty_ shit - even slams Asami into the bar, rubs against her and flashes a smile to the crowd, and the crowd goes ape shit. And there's this desperate feeling flooding through Asami trying to block it all out and stay focused, because her body's actually into it and responding in ways she doesn't want it to. She's only human and Korra is - she's _attractive_ , alright.

Asami doesn't - she doesn't really have a good come back for it, she's just sort of lost and on her back foot the rest of the game. She can't go head-to-head with Korra in spewing out random shit because Asami's pretty sure if she just yelled out anything currently running through her mind, that everyone would automatically know one-hundred percent that she's not joking. They'd see just how fucking flustered she really is. So she just decides to keep her mouth shut.

And the DeadlySpirits lose their first bout of the season. To a rookie a jammer.

~~~

Asami's a flirt, generally. That's not the problem.

She's flirted with boys, with men, with cheerleaders and with waitresses. She's even flirted with education, and instruments, and briefly with engineering. However, she's never flat-out flirted with the enemy. But the whole thing was still relatively tame compared to all the other shit that's been spit in her face. So she doesn't _know_ exactly what the problem was.

"First of all, that wasn't flirting," Zhu Li explains. "That was a rookie catching you off guard. Shit I wish I could have snapped a picture of your face."

Asami shoves Zhu's shoulder and slaps her with a couch pillow. "Whatever, the only reason you're getting play-time is because you're dating coach," she says, and it's kind of a low blow, but she's sensitive about the Korra thing.

"I'm not dating _Varrick_ ," Zhu Li says.

And Kuvira laughs on the other end of the couch as she sing-songs, "Do the thing, Zhu Li, do the thing! What the hell does that even mean?"

Zhu Li rolls her eyes and slumps into the couch even more. "Whatever, refs need to tell Lin to watch the elbows, nearly took my tooth out."

"Su and Lin can both eat a fat one as far as I'm concerned," Kuvira pouts and Asami stops listening for a bit, her mind drifting back to Korra.

Korra's fast, sure — but she's not as good as Asami. She's pretty much all power and no form, no technique. There's no reason for Asami to have been off her game, but she can't shake it. She can't shake Korra's blue eyes and her soft voice and her hard as shit hip checks. The worst part is that losing this game was almost entirely Asami's fault. She knows it and the team knows it. She's been captain for two seconds and she's already blowing it. She can't let this rookie get to her like this, no matter how toned her arms are, or how perfectly soft her hair looks. Or how... _delicious_ her lips might seem. Fuck.

"Asami, you're daydreaming again," Kuv says. "Just ask her out already."

"Fuck you," Asami shoots back, and then she doesn't bring up Korra for another week.

~~~

Except it's hard to just forget about Korra. First off, there's not enough teams in the league to just forget a face, especially not _that_ face. And second — it's like Korra can't stop running her mouth about how good she is since she 'out-skated Asami Sato on her first go'. It's not like it's going to happen again, so she can talk all she wants. Asami's not worried about that, it's just. Shit, she's done so much to keep this league on its feet and she's put in so much work and now this _rookie_ is coming in and shaking her up and talking shit when Asami's the one that even made it possible for girls like Korra to get a chance at tasting what it's like being on the track.

So. Yeah, she's a little pissed off that some ego-boosted little brat is skating around on all the foundation that Asami helped lay and she's not even bothering to show a little fucking appreciation. Whatever.

And Korra seemed so…well, in game she wasn't quite _abraisive_. She didn't talk like she was the best or better than  _anyone_ for that matter. All she did was compliment Asami the entire time, and it was baffling, really. _Ugh_. Maybe that's the real problem. Asami just can't get a good read on Korra, sort of feels like she's on the wrong foot, standing in the back and looking stupid as Korra plays some game that Asami can't figure out the rules to.

It's fine, though. She just needs to get her head back in the game. She just needs to get her mind off Korra. It's almost a mantra now, she keeps telling herself it and kind of hoping she can just stick to it. The loss was hard to deal with - _is_ hard to deal with, but it happens. Shit happens and she just needs to get over it.

Getting over it is actually easier than she thinks.

After the first loss, the DeadlySpirits go on a winning streak, partly because Asami's basically all focus and determination, and partly due to a fantastic combination of hard work and a little bit of luck. They nearly lose a bout, but then they snatch it back and all that does is fuel their fire even more, everyone pumped to crush whatever else comes their way this season. The rookies on the other teams are good this year, but the bulk of them don't have Asami worried too much. None of them as much as Korra, but Asami's got faith in her team, and more importantly, a restored faith in herself. She's not only ready to face Korra again, but looking forward to it.

The team is getting drinks after a particularly good game when Kuv asks, "You ready to take on Korra again?" And she's grinning like there's some kind of joke that Asami's not in on. The game isn't actually for another few days, but everyone is talking about it — the first time Asami and Korra face-off again since the unexpected loss. It's like, making headlines and showing up on blogs and random people in the street that don't even know what roller derby really is are now talking about it. It's all sort of scary and exhilarating all at once and Asami's got everything to lose and Korra has everything to gain.

On second thought, maybe Asami _isn't_ exactly looking forward to this. She forces a laugh and chugs the rest of her drink for good measure. "I thought I was," she says. And it sounds a bit vulnerable even to her own ears.

Kuv just sips her drink and shrugs it off. "You'll be fine. I'm sure of it."

Asami is - well, she's not so sure.

~~~

This whole thing is one of those situations where the weight of it kind of sneaks up on her. Asami escapes to her father's house the next day, the house the other girls don't know about. It's big and spacious and maybe considered a mansion and is what Asami now associates with everything bad in life. She comes here, though, because it's quiet. It's quiet and she needs to think about shit. So she lounges around all day and watches a couple episodes of Law and Order before she gets bored of it and turns to Netflix.

It makes her stomach hurt, but she can admit to herself the sick truth of the situation. Korra got the best of her - in everything. She outplayed her _and_ she managed to get into Asami's head. On top of that, Asami can't stop thinking about her. If it's not going over strategy or replaying the game in her head, she's thinking about Korra's smile and Korra's soft hands and her soft hair and lips and every fucking thing about her. She likes Korra, is the thing. She's likes her flirting and her shit-talkng and her confidence. She's cute and funny and quick on her feet and has that face that Asami wouldn't mind waking up to. But, this is a game. This is all just a game to Korra and she's just the rookie trying to make a name for herself by taking down the league's biggest player. And Asami's just making it easy for her. It's -

Asami's heart jumps when her phone rings, and she's tempted to not answer it, but it looks like it's just Kuv so there's no real harm. "Asami," she says, securing the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she goes back to flipping through a magazine.

"Satomobile!" Kuvira yells, and Asami drops the phone in her lap. "Um, so, I just uh — "

Asami's putting the phone back to her ear when she hears Korra's voice and freezes. "That's not really her is it?" Korra says, then Kuvira hums and Korra adds, "Fuck you, K."

 _K_. It's not K, it's Kuv. And why is Korra hanging out with Asami's friend. More importantly why is the _enemy_ hanging out with her teammate. "So you'll never guess who I ran into at the bar," Kuv says, and then both her and Korra are laughing like they're old friends with inside jokes and secret handshakes and stories about things that happened in middle school. Fuck both of them. "So we've had a bit to drink, mind giving us a lift?"

Of course Asami minds. She puts on something decent and hops in her car, anyway.

The bar isn't crowded, which means it's easy to spot the two giggling idiots sitting at a back table being louder than everyone else. Asami's sort of annoyed, is the thing, but when she locks eyes with Korra she's instantly nervous. A million things run through her mind like her hair and make-up and like. Shit, her hands are all sweaty and her heart's beating fast. And she needs a drink. Except she can't get a drink since she's driving - which, is the whole reason she's here.

"Get over here, Sams," Kuv says, dramatically waving her over to the table and Korra leans back in her chair, just staring with an easy grin on her face. Asami can't tell if she's being smug or if she's just really drunk. She hopes Korra's just drunk because she can't deal with smug right now. Her legs are at least working properly, thankfully. Maybe this can actually go well.

"What's up with you two?" Asami asks when she makes it to the table, trying not to look and sound as impatient as she feels.

"Take a seat," Kuv says and Korra snorts, burying her laugh in her beer.

"What's so funny?" Asami snaps, and then Kuv's laughing too. It's - it's making Asami angry, and she doesn't need this. She came here to help them and now they're just being assholes. "Alright, whatever. You want the lift or not?"

"You owe me twenty," Korra says suddenly, and when Kuv shakes her head Korra's jaw drops. Her teeth are perfect. Everything about her is perfect. It's not fair. "C'mon, you call this easy going? She's as stiff here as she was in the bout."

Kuv rolls her eyes and slaps a twenty on the table and then she excuses herself and Korra and Asami are alone for the first time in... ever, actually. It's even cute the way Korra sips her beer. "So how bad am I gonna get it in this game?" she asks.

Asami shrugs, aiming for nonchalant, but falling short. "I'm not going easy on you."

"Good," Korra says. "Last game was a snoozefest."

"What's your deal?" Asami blurts, and Korra sets her beer down all serious like.

"Take a seat."

"No," Asami says, and then Korra tilts her head, which has her reconsidering her decision. Before she can sit, though, the Beifongs suddenly are all up in her shit.

"We're here for our rookie," Lin says with about as much feeling as a cactus. They can have her. Asami doesn't want her anyway.

Su wraps an arm around Korra and helps lift her and Korra stops them both before they can walk away. She places a hand on Asami's cheek, looks at her all considering, and even smiles a little. Before Asami even realizes it, she's returning the smile. And then Korra leans forward and says, "I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass again. You stay cute, though, Asami."

"Oh my God, you're so fucking — " Asami starts, but she's cut off by the sound of Kuvira laughing over her shoulder and Korra being escorted out of hearing distance. "I don't know what her problem is, it's like she's _torturing_ me." She knows it sounds like she's whining, but this girl is really getting under her skin.

Kuvira just pulls on her arm and says, "Come on, we'll give 'em hell, alright. I owe Su a couple bruises, anyway."

 ~~~

Roller Derby's been growing lately in Republic City, and with the popularity comes the press. Asami's normally used to the media frenzy right before or after a big game, but this year is something else entirely. And, honestly, it's all Korra. There hasn't been a 'rivalry' this entertaining maybe _ever_ in the derby scene, and the papers and blogs and sports-sites are all eating it right up. But this rivalry is like, all in Korra's head, and Asami's just stuck in the middle of it, unfortunately. She's woken early the next morning by her phone ringing, beeping loudly on the table next to her bed.

"Yeah, what's up?" she answers, rubbing her hand over her face to force herself awake. She's positive if she stops she'll just fall asleep sitting up in her bed.

"Hey, Sams," Mako says, and Asami's instantly more alert. Until now she hasn't really been contacted for a statement on Korra, but this is definitely what this call's about. Which, it could be worse actually. There can be some real scums trying to cover stories on the derby scene, but Mako's a good writer, and more importantly — he's a good person. He started right around the time Asami started derby and she'd give him a good story and he'd give her good press. Something about making each other's careers seems to foster a decent friendship. She can at least be sure he's not trying to fuck her over, and he can count on something honest most times from Asami.

"So, tomorrow night. You, Korra, and — "

"Not you too, Mako," Asami grumbles, but not at all surprised. She sort of didn't expect him to jump right in, but this _is_ all anyone is talking about and it _is_ his job to be on top of shit like that.

"Give me something else good, then. And I'll back off," he says.

Asami crawls out of bed and heads toward the bathroom, tries not to roll her eyes. "I think I've gotten a little better at figuring out how to lead the girls since last year. And everyone is stepping their game up this year. I mean Zhu Li and Kuvira have become a real force to be considered."

"I said interesting," Mako says, laughing. "Not shit I can get just from watching a game. C'mon give me _something_ to work with."

Asami sighs, dramatically enough that she knows Mako understands he's being annoying. "Fine, the Metal Banshees won't go far if they stay so dependent on the Beifongs."

"Alright, that's better. What do you mean by that?"

"I mean Su and Lin are strong, yeah — but have you seen Kuvira lately? It's like she came out of no where, like I don't even know how or where she's been practicing, but she could probably take on both of them at once if she wanted." Asami grabs a face wipe and starts rubbing her eyes. She should probably take her make-up off _before_ bed, but it's not every night that she stays up late too distracted to sleep, constantly going over her game plan to outplay a fucking _rookie._ Or just, imagining her face - whichever.

Mako sighs and Asami knows what's coming. "So, that just leads us to Korra. C'mon Asami, you have to be at least a little worried. Her first game ever in the league and she shut down the biggest player."

"I was off my game," Asami says, and starts to head toward the Kitchen.

"Was that statement on the record, or off?"

Fuck, she's going to have to say something about it sooner or later. It's just not as simple as everyone wants it to be, but Asami's against the wall with this one. Part of her knows the real reason she lost to Korra, shit — _all_ of her knows why. She can't say that to the press, though. And she also can't think of a good lie that doesn't sound like she just had her head too far up her own ass to even outplay a rookie.

"Mistakes were made," she says. "But it won't happen again. And that's on the record."

Mako knows when to back down, so he starts asking about future strategies and formations and weaknesses and Asami can relax a little as she answers the usual filler questions that she's used to filtering.

She's not fond of this kind of pressure. She likes derby because she likes the game. She's not in it for the fame or the press or the conflicts. She's in it for the rush and the adrenaline and when all of these politics jump into it, it just closes her up in a bad way. She knows no matter what she does this game it's going to make the papers — good or bad. And if it's good that means she needs to shut Korra down one way or another. Part of her is conflicted about going so hard after a rookie, part of her is conflicted about going hard after Korra in particular, but the biggest part of her is just ready to win this game. Maybe if she wins it'll all blow over and everyone will see Korra for the fluke she is.

Except, _maybe_ she's not a fluke. Yeah, Asami wasn't really in it, but it's not like Korra was bad. She was actually really fucking good, and not just for a rookie - for a derby player in general. It's scary thinking about it, but this bout isn't necessarily a drop in the bucket for Asami.

"I don't know if you've heard," Mako says, "but Korra said she hopes you can give her an actual challenge the second time around."

"Of course," Asami says, feeling more drained and defeated by this whole thing than she's willing to admit to. Korra _would_ be the type to talk shit to the press, she can't just leave it on the track or in bars or probably any-fucking-where else she sees Asami. She has to tell the whole world how she feels. Asami can't even give a come back. There's nothing she can say and she can't do shit about it, because she fucked up and she's disappointed in herself. But she knows she's better than that, and honestly it doesn't matter what a rookie has to say, anyway. "Alright, Mako. I need to eat something."

"Good luck out there, Sams."

"Yeah. Thanks."

Kuv calls next, and this time Asami's already primed for it, so it goes smoother in some ways. "I don't know why everyone's asking me about her. It's like people have never seen a team lose a game before."

"Yeah," Kuv says, stiffly, like she's got her jaw clenched. She never really lost that old Zaofu way of hers, still holding on to that hardass military-style-gated-community mentality. "It's not about losing the game, it's about you. You played perfectly and then Korra whispered some shit to you, and you barely scored another point."

"Well - " Asami starts, feeling sort of like she's backed into a corner.

"And I'm not sure if you're keeping up with it, but Korra's been cleaning house in all her other bouts as well. We've both gone undefeated since our last bout."

Of course Asami's keeping up. Of course Korra is doing well. If she wasn't this would be easy, and nothing in life is fucking easy. "Listen, I'm not saying I'll wipe the floor with her, but don't count me out, alright?"

"Okay," Kuv says. "It's on you, I'm there when you need me - just say the word."

"Yeah, I know."

 

~~~

Game day seems a lot bigger than it should. It's just a random game mid-season but Asami feels like it's a career decider. She's nothing but tension and focus all day, and then the moment the second whistle of the first jam blows, Korra slams against her and takes off, and Asami's immediately playing catch-up. It's not a great start, no, and it makes Asami feel uneasy, but she's ready this time, more level headed.

Korra's not changing her game, still slurring random shit around her mouth guard and getting up in Asami's ear every chance she gets.

"Asami, _baby_ , you call that skating?" Korra says as they fight for a spot. And - if Asami's being honest with herself - it still kind of gets to her, like she thought it'd get old, but under that burn in her chest, behind that wall she's built up to just filter everything out, she's... flattered, really. She doesn't know Korra's motives, but she's persistent at least, and fucking skating her ass off _while_ causing shit on the track.

Asami can't beat Korra on her own, and that's hard to admit but she knows she needs help. She eyes Kuv, then swallows around the lump in her throat and yells, "Moses!" and Kuvira shoulders the fuck out of Korra and Asami actually cringes at the way Korra goes down, tries not to think about it as she scores, wills herself to not look back and fight the urge to check and see if Korra's okay.

It was just a play. This is just a game. It's not bigger than that; it's never bigger than that.

The refs don't say anything about it, it was clean and — Korra could probably make a show of it, come after Asami even harder or more ruthless, but she just keeps her same confidence, her dumb smile and her stupid rookie smugness. She keeps sweet-talking around her mouth guard and it's — it's still getting under Asami's skin, yeah, but Asami also knows she has her team, knows she can pull this off if she works for it.

Thankfully, the DeadlySpirits manage the win. And Asami doesn't even have to field the media because the more pressing issue is the scrap Kuv got in with Su and how they both ended up with shiners in the penalty box. She'll have to yell at her _teammate_ later about keeping her head in the game, but right now she's too drained, needs a drink, or four. Or a six day shower and a back-rub from a really hot girl that doesn't constantly shit-talk her.

She's in the parking lot, halfway to her car, when she spots Korra heading fast in her direction. Kuv shoots her a nod like she's some sort of secret service, but Asami waves her off and braces herself if Korra's trying to scrap. She doesn't necessarily  _like_ fighting, but she can definitely hold her ground. Even against Korra's biceps. Only, Korra doesn't really look like she's picking a fight, just stops in front of Asami, eyes wide like she came all this way with nothing to say.

"What do you want rookie?" Asami asks, keeps it formal, like she can hide how she feels better if she just doesn't say her name.

"You did great," Korra says and it - it seems genuine.

"Yeah, well our first game you got lucky. There's still shit you need to learn rook — er, Korra."

Korra hunches her shoulders and looks down at her hands like she's unsure of herself for the first time in front of Asami. But Asami doesn't trust it, doesn't trust Korra. She still remembers the gesture at the bar. "Well, maybe you can teach me some time," Korra says, looking back up.

"Look," Asami says, firmer than she intended, but that's probably better for getting her point across. "We're off the track, so cut the shit, will you? I've had enough of it tonight and keeping up with a rookie in and out of the rink isn't something I'm interested in. Just knock it off already."

"That wasn't. I wasn't — never mind," Korra says, and then she walks off before Asami can get anything else in.

Ugh, what the fuck is her deal. Korra's just a spinning wheel of complication and Asami is always playing catch-up. Always two steps behind. Asami is always two fucking steps behind and she hates it.

It doesn't help that Kuv's at her door first thing in the morning. "Korra's been talking about you again," she says, taking out her laptop. She's got one of those all-metal ones, no-nonsense type. "You want to know what she's saying?"

"I have a feeling you'll tell me anyway."

"It's pretty humbling, actually. When referencing you she says 'guess I just got her on a bad day, and she showed me what she's like on a good one'. I'm not even a part of this, and I'm confused."

Asami reels at that for a while, wasn't expecting — she wasn't, honestly that's surprising. "I really don't know what she's getting at, Kuv. Like, it feels like she's just playing the game, but no one's ever dedicated this much attention to me, rookie or not."

"Yeah but... have you seen the crowds, the amount of interest, how good this is for the derby scene? People are trying to interview  _me_ to get the scoop on you, Sams. Believe it or not, this little rivalry is good publicity for the sport. Isn't that what you've wanted?"

"It's not a rivalry. We played two games together — "

"And have you seen you two out there," Kuv cuts in. "It's all raw power and talent and aggression and fucking chemistry. It's the media's fucking wet dream and I think you should capitalize on it."

" _Kuv_ ," Asami groans. "I just wanna play Roller Derby, I don't want to get all political and shit. I'm not the face of the sport."

"Except, you _are_ ," Kuv says, and her face actually softens in a way that Asami's only ever seen it do around her. "I don't know what Korra's getting at, Sams - but you can take advantage of it. We can get more girls, sponsors, teams. This could be huge."

It's true, it's all true... but it's not what Asami wants to think about right now, and Kuv gets it. She pulls Asami in and lets her rest her head on her shoulder, exits out of all the blogs on her laptop and finds a funny YouTube video of a dog. _That's_ what Asami needs, something to distract her, something that doesn't remind her life could possibly change very drastically all because of the actions of someone else.

It's not fair.

~~~

Asami doesn't have any family to visit during the break, and neither does Kuvira, so they inevitably end up spending it together. Kuv is the closest thing she has to a best friend and sister, and she loves the honesty of her, the seriousness — _despite_ the crazy shit she seems to have going on with Su.

"What's the real deal with you two, anyway?" Asami asks, pulling a pillow in to her chest and leaning back into the couch. "The rivalry seems a little less than friendly."

"If you're not going to talk about how you really feel about Korra, I'm not going to talk about Suyin Beifong," Kuv says, not even bothering to take her eyes off the TV. And that's not fair, anyway. Asami doesn't have any like, _feelings_ about Korra.

"C'mon, Kuv. There's nothing between me and Korra."

"Yeah?" Kuvira laughs, "so when's the last time you got laid?"

What, that's not even correlated. " _Jeez_ ," Asami says, "people talk about sex like if they're not having it, their virginity is just going to grow back or something. It's not at the center of every conflict."

"Yeah," Kuvira says and sips her beer. She turns toward Asami and she's smiling. "But it's at the center of this one."

"It's _not_."

"Why are you whining then?"

"Because it's — " The thing is, she doesn't know why she's whining. She doesn't know what this is about. She doesn't know anything and she's just tired of being confused. "I just feel blindsided by it all. One second I was playing a game, and then I was a part of this, this _thing_."

"But, you're into it," Kuv says, softly. "Like maybe you won't admit it, to me or to yourself, but part of you likes it. If it's not Korra, then it's the attention at least."

Asami shrugs. "Attention's not my thing. You know that."

"Then it's Korra."

"Fuck off," Asami laughs, "I bet the thing with Su is — "

"Don't even go there," Kuv says, shoving her shoulder. "It's not like that and I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine," Asami says, still laughing, then she picks up the remote and switches the channel. "Except, you should talk about it. You can't go around attacking her like that."

"Should just be rubbing against her on the bar like you and Korra, yeah?" Kuv laughs, then she sighs. "Alright, alright. I'll let up. Both on Su _and_ you. But, it's been a while since you've been involved in something, you know? It's exciting." It is exciting, for Asami too, even though she won't say it. "And Su - Su's also from Zaofu."

And that's all Asami can get out of Kuvira about it for the rest of the break.

~~~

Asami's glad to be done with the Metal Banshees for a while. But it's her third bout of the week against the Switchblade Knockouts and she wants nothing more than to burn her uniform and skates. And maybe watch a ton of Netflix. And maybe go on one of those vacations with Kuv where they only eat ice cream and take selfies in really fancy hats.

"That sounds ridiculous," Kuv points out, sliding the star cover over Asami's helmet.

Asami glares at her. "Whatever, I'll wear what I want on my head, Kuv."

Kuvira just rolls her eyes and skates toward the track. She's really been on her game lately. Like tonight, despite the fact that she was the lone blocker on the track at one point, DeadlySpirits still put sixteen points on the board, while the Knockouts stayed at zero. Honestly, she's captain material, but the spot went to Asami since everyone's pretty sure Kuv would just end up on a power trip that no one could pull her from. People don't really know what's going on in her head, is the thing. And most aren't too desperate to figure it out.

Asami's not been all that better, though. At least not lately. She's going through, like, an existential crisis or something. She's a positive person usually, but it's just _ugh_ — this Korra thing is really eating at her. She knows it's part of the game or good press or whatever but god. It's like no matter how many times Asami puts her in her place or refuses to comment on her, Korra's always there again, taking the piss and grinning in that dumb, adorable way of hers.

She'd bring all this up to Kuv, but she doesn't - she wouldn't honestly know what to say or where to start. Asami shakes it off and positions behind the blockers, checks the clock. She's only got a little less than an hour left, so she pushes through.

They end up winning the bout, of course. It's not even close, one of those games where Asami shakes the other teams hands for a really long time and tries to say encouraging things. Her hearts too big, is the problem. Sometimes she cares too much.

"Asami?" Kuv asks afterwards. She looks forlorn. Asami narrows her eyes. "Mind if I crash at yours tonight? Zhu Li and Varrick are... doing the thing."

Asami sighs, she'd like to be alone, but she doesn't mind Kuv that much, and _yeah_. It's cruel and unusual punishment to have to sit in the same house as Varrick in - any situation. "Alright, but don't get on my shit like you always do. I just want to relax."

"I told you I'd let up, didn't I? Haven't brought it up once this week."

"You don't have to, everyone else does."

It's silent for a moment, Kuv just staring her down, studying her for a good while. "Stop letting it get to you," she says eventually, and then she walks off for her gear-bag.

It's not like Asami's _letting_ anything get to her. Whatever. She just wants to be home right now.

Asami's apartment isn't her father's mansion, but it's not completely shitty. It could be worse — could be Kuv and Zhu Li's apartment. There's the issue of dragging her bag up three flights of stairs, since of course the elevator's out of order again, and she spends the entire trip planning out every detail of what's going to happen when she finally gets in. It mostly involves a hot bath and some warm milk and her glorious body pillow.

And then Asami gets the absolute worst call of her life when she's opening her front door. "We need you to do a photo shoot for this sports mag — it's the actual sport- _y_ kind, not the swimsuits," Varrick says.

Oh, thank god, but. "Why do they want me in a sports mag? I haven't done anything this year that I didn't do last year, honestly." And then it's really obvious, but coach says it anyway.

"It's not just you, Sams. Korra will be there too." He pauses long enough to seem like he's considering her feelings. "Sorry, it's a sponsor thing." Which is just code for it's a _money thing_ , which is just code for Asami better buck up and just fucking do it with a smile. Her life's already starting to change and she's not done mentally preparing. She's been procrastinating. She's not ready.

"But, seriously why _me?_ " Ah, that wasn't actually supposed to leave her mind. Kuv arches a brow and Asami shakes her head.

Varrick hums. "Aw, c'mon. She's a rookie, alright. Don't take it so personally."

"Yeah, well — "

"Save it for the reporters, Sams. I have to go." _Ugh_. Varrick is such a dickface.

Asami hangs up and flops down hard on her couch and ignores the funny feeling that always seems to creep up whenever anyone mentions Korra. Maybe she should just quit. Who even needs derby anyway? She could stay in her apartment all day. Maybe get a dog. But that would get pretty boring. And sad. Okay, maybe she won't quit until she's found another really cool hobby [and job]. Or girlfriend. Maybe she should get a nice girlfriend who'd make her forget all about Korra. And the newspapers. And this dumb photo shoot. And —

"Sato. Off the couch, alright?" Shit, Kuv is still here. "C'mon, I know you've been daydreaming about that hot bath all night. Don't let whatever this is ruin it."

Asami can't focus on her bath, _now_. She's too busy thinking about dumb rookies with cute haircuts and bright blues eyes and heart-stopping smiles, fuck. At least Korra's probably going to be more casual at the photo shoot. Maybe. She's also probably going to be all made up and pretty and, sure, maybe Asami's been daydreaming about Korra's arms since the day they met. But that's totally normal. Asami thinks about a lot things, mostly including nice cars and cute girls.

Kuvira thumps the back of her head.

Oh, yeah, she's supposed to get up. "Okay, okay. She mumbles. I'm up."

~~~

Photo shoots are dumb, she finds out.

It's just hours of poses and fake smiles and minor adjustments and constant make-up fixes. Asami takes some pictures alone and then they have her posing next to Korra like they're about to go into battle or something, all strapped into their helmets and skates and kneepads. And Korra's like, unusually quiet. Asami's been waiting all day for her normal rookie spiel, but there's nothing. Radio fucking silence.

"Korra," Asami says, when they're taking a break to get food. For the most part, they're alone. "You're awfully quiet today."

Korra makes a sound somewhere in between a laugh and a sigh. "Yeah, how do you talk to someone who takes everything you say in a bad way?"

Asami stops with her bagel mid-air, immediately caught off guard. "That's not true."

"Of course it is."

"All you do is talk shit to me."

" _See_ ," Korra says, "All I do is tell you how I feel and you get all twisted about it." She nudges Asami with her shoulder, and then lingers, pressed to her side. Asami would really like to wrap an arm around her, but she's pretty sure that's not a good thing to do. "C'mon, what's going on in that pretty little head of yours?"

Asami pulls away, absolutely not flustered in the least bit. " _See_ ," she mocks, "there you are at it again."

"Are you upset because I called you pretty?"

Asami stills at the idea of Korra maybe actually thinking she's pretty, but she calms it down, because she's sure that's not the case. "No, you probably call a lot of girls pretty." And she's aware that she's revealed a lot more about herself than she wanted to.

"So _that's_ it," Korra says with her dumb fucking shit-eating grin. "You're upset 'cos you think I go around sweet-talking all the cute jammer girls."

Asami can't even respond cheekily, just throws her bagel down on the table. "Shut up, Korra."

And then Korra's pressed to her, face all close, hot breath grazing across her cheek. "Make me, Asami."

Suddenly the room feels smaller and it's like time slows, enough that Asami becomes aware of just about everything. There's Korra's breath on her cheek, and her smell, and the curve of her lips, and how her eyelashes curl, and her biceps and the armbands that accentuate them. The room temperature is like constantly increasing because Korra's so close, fuck.

"Guess you won't, then," Korra says. And then she starts pulling away and Asami instantly misses every inch of her.

Asami breaks when Korra's hand brushes over her stomach as she pulls it from her waist. It's just too much, and Asami makes an embarrassing little noise and can actually feel how turned on she is. All the blood that isn't rushing south in her body is rushing to her face. She's light-headed.

Korra's hand freezes on Asami's stomach, and she looks up slowly. She's flushed, too, but otherwise she looks as smug as she always does. _Fuck._ "Hah. Does little Asami like this?" she teases.

" _Korra_ ," Asami says desperately, because this is certainly not the time for her dumb jokes, and she grabs on to Korra's arms a little more roughly than she intended. "You have to stop this. How do I make you stop?"

"Is that what you want?" Korra asks, and then the camera guy comes over and Asami's still figuring out how to respond when Korra walks away.

She sort of feels like she's one curve ball away from breaking down.

~~~

Actually, she's _two_ curve balls from breaking down.

Zhu Li gets sidelined because she takes a bad hit, falls one way and her foot goes the other. And the DeadlySpirits go from winning every bout, to losing two out of three of their last few matches. Yeah, Kuv is strong, and so is Asami — but with Zhu Li gone there's a noticeable weakness in their line up. Which sucks because there's a big tournament coming up and winning this title is actually more important than anything else in derby right now.

"We just need a team night," Kuv says, holding on to the table as she rocks her chair back. They're in Asami's kitchen after their latest loss and they've both been silent for a while. "Like, a sleepover. But with drinks. And some food. Music and shit."

Asami sighs, and she doesn't _mean_ to sound impatient, it's just. She knows she's been flipping through this play book for the past hour like the answer's going to jump out at her, and Kuv is just trying to be helpful — but she sort of feels like she's the real fuck-up here.

"It's not you," Kuv says, like she's read her mind. "You can't help that Zhu Li got hurt."

Asami hums and finally chances a glance up from the book in front of her. It's not just that Zhu Li got hurt, she doesn't blame herself for that. It's the fact that they can't bounce back. If the team can't pull out a victory just because a player's down, then that _has_ to say something about the leadership. "Yeah, but I'm supposed to — I should know what to do, and I don't," she says. That's what being captain is. She should have the answers and solutions and be level-headed at all times. And not be easily distracted by hotshot rookies that only exist to get in her head. But none of that describes her right now. She's not doing her job. "I just feel helpless, you know."

Kuv huffs as her chair smacks the floor. Her jaw's all tense like maybe she's over this, but her eyes tell Asami she's mostly just concerned for her, which is the last thing Asami wants Kuv to have to be. She gets that tug in her gut, the feeling that she's letting everyone down and being useless about it. "You're not helpless, Sams. I'm telling you what to do, you're just not listening," she says, and Asami sits up because Kuv's using her _serious_ voice. "We _need_ team bonding."

"We're halfway in the season, I don't think bonding is the problem" Asami says, and Kuv tilts her head like there's something obvious that she's not getting. It's a valid statement, though. They've come this far together, nearly undefeated.

Well okay, Eska's like, seriously detached and P'Li has more anger problems than Kuvira does, but. That's not anything _new_. It's always been that way with them. And P'Li and Eska aren't the problem — the problem's that… Asami can't quite place her finger on it. It's right at the front of her mind, but she can't place it.

"Fine," Kuv says, and Asami snaps out of her head. " _You_ need to bond with the team again."

And that's — that's it, actually.

Asami's not in tune with the girls. It's like she doesn't know their quirks anymore, which sides they lean to or how to read them on the fly. And it's not a sudden thing, it's been sort of gradual because she's been pulling away, too preoccupied with her own shit to even notice. She can't even blame Korra for this one, even though that's like, her go to right now.

"So," she says, "we need a team night?" and even Asami's surprised at how dejected she sounds. It's not what she was aiming for, honestly.

Kuv sighs. "C'mon, I didn't mean anything by it Asami. I'm just saying it couldn't hurt."

"No, I get it," Asami says. "I think so too — I just. I hate letting the team down."

The second curve ball is when everyone comes over for team night and decides it's time to discuss whether or not Asami's really prepared to be captain. Which, is the fucking opposite of bonding. Asami excuses herself to the bathroom and then she texts everyone she can think of until she finds a link to get her Korra's number. This is a dumb idea, she knows. And maybe she wants Korra, or maybe she wants the attention, or maybe she just wants to tell someone that her apartment's full of women that just questioned her leadership over a couple lost games - but she needs to talk to someone and she's really got no one other than the girls on her team.

And right now they're all the enemy. So she dials Korra's number.

"This is all your fault," Asami says, and then she's actually crying and Korra's being completely silent on the other end. "Say something, don't act like you don't hear me."

"I don't know what you want me to say," Korra says, and her voice calms Asami, like it's patient and caring and soft. "I don't know what you think is my fault."

"My life being... fucking turned on it's head," Asami says, sniffing and slapping the floor. It just ends up hurting her hand. "I hate it. All I wanted to do was play the game, I never wanted any of this." She shakes her hand out and wipes her nose on her sleeve. "I finally felt like I had a family, and now I just feel alone again, like my team's being shitty because _I'm_ shitty and - "

"You're not _shitty_ ," Korra says. "You're really good, and you're taking on a lot and - "

"Shut up. I just want to punch you in the face."

"Well come over then, and take your chance. I'll text my address." And then Korra hangs up and Asami - she's figuring out a proper way to ditch team night. It's not like she really feels like she's a part of the team right now, anyway.

 

 

 


	2. And then this happened.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so, the filth is happening this chapter, whatup

It takes Asami ten minutes to leave the bathroom. It feels like no time at all to her, since she mostly spends it telling her heart to calm down and telling her brain to delete Korra's text with her address and maybe her number entirely so she's not tempted to do something stupid. But when she walks back in the living room with the team they all stare at her so long that she says, "I'm not a fucking spectacle."

Kuv blinks between the team and Asami, sitting between the two like a physical buffer, and Asami rolls her eyes because she can't properly handle any more bullshit today. " _Sams_ ," Kuv says and Asami glares at her until she clears her throat and says, "Asami."

"What?"

"Can we talk?"

It's - the air's kind of thick in the room, like the tension could be sliced with a knife. And Asami can tell that everyone's just waiting for her to say the wrong thing so they can all pounce at once. Fucking vultures, the bunch of them. "No, I don't feel like being _attacked_ anymore."

"Don't be so dramatic," Eska says, and Asami nearly throws her phone at her.

"I'm sorry I have fucking human emotions and not the soul of a robot, Eska. Maybe you can - "

"Asami!" Kuv snaps and Asami's pretty sure there's like, _fumes_ coming out of her ears at this point. She's so angry she's light-headed with it. She needs to sit, but she doesn't want to because then she'd lose the higher ground. Kuv stands and tilts her head. "Can we, kitchen?"

And suddenly Asami's more hurt than anything else because this was all Kuv's idea. The bonding party and the talking and probably the well planned attack on Asami's character and leadership skills. It's a fucking coup and Asami's the only one not prepared to fight. "If you want captain you can fucking have it, Kuv," she says and she's shaking now, visibly. "You know I'm not - " she stops and looks around like she's _pleading_ but everyone's just staring at her blankly. "I'm not the bad guy here, I want what's best for us."

"That's what we're trying to discuss here," Kuv says so tenderly that it does nothing but offend Asami.

"I said you can take captain, I don't know what else you want from me," Asami says, resigned.

Kuv approaches cautiously, like she might a scared animal... or a dangerous one. "We think it's best you sit the next few games out. Take some time to sort out whatever's going with you. This is - this is what we _do_ , Asami. If you're not in it one-hundred percent, then you can't be out there."

Kuv's looking at her like she's not seeing her, like behind her eyes she's just imagining what the fucking world would be like without Asami Sato in it. Asami's throat is so dry she doesn't even know if she can respond. She can't look at Kuv, she physically can't, but over her thundering heartbeat she still manages to say, "Just get out of my house."

And it's like, Kuv clearly wasn't expecting that, her expression cracks for a moment and she looks... _genuinely_ hurt and shocked and for some reason Asami can't seem to bring herself to give a single fuck. After a few seconds Kuv just shifts back into her usual stony look and steps away from Asami. "Alright then. If that's how you really feel."

"Save it, _Kuvira_ ," Asami huffs, "I'm not interested in hearing anymore of your shit."

Kuv lingers for a moment, everyone else sitting around uncomfortably at the tension between her and Asami. Then she clears her throat and says, "Alright, guess we should be off then." And the girls all scramble to their feet like they were just being held hostage.

Which is fucking dumb because it's not like Asami wanted them there, can barely stand to look at them right now, let alone _want_ them in her apartment.

She stands off in a corner and watches as all the girls leave and Kuv sticks around until the last person's down the stairs. Then she walks to the door and she, well, she shuts it but she doesn't leave out of it. She just turns toward Asami, eyes her for a minute with her fists clenched at her sides. The both of them just stay like that for what seems like forever.

One of them should probably say something because it's getting kind of weird just staring at each other, but Asami has no words and neither does Kuv, she's guessing.

Kuv sucks in a breath and looks at the floor and then she's - she starts breathing all heavy like she's going to explode. It scares Asami and she takes an instinctive step back, but there's nothing but wall behind her.

"What the fuck's your deal, Asami?" Kuv yells across the room.

And Asami - she's got nothing so she just repeats what Kuv said back to her. "What the fuck is _your_ deal?"

But that's the wrong response, apparently.

Kuv takes off, heading fast in Asami's direction. And Asami barely has enough time to brace herself before Kuv slams into her and knocks her back against the wall, gripping Asami's shirt tight in her hands, headbutts her chin. Asami wraps a leg around Kuv and pulls her knee in until Kuv's leg gives out and they both go toppling to the floor. Asami presses Kuv's shoulder down, only Kuv's like, more agile or something. She flips them over and grabs roughly at Asami's shirt. At some point Asami gets hit in the eye and Kuv ends up with a swollen lip and after a few minutes they're both sprawled out on the floor - Kuv resting on her stomach and Asami lying on her back, desperately trying to suck in air and staring at the ceiling.

It's a bit odd but it's like, _less_ tense than it was before. It's like they fought all the bad shit out of them. It's a good thing, even though Asami's head is throbbing like nothing else.

Kuv's the first to break the silence. "Fuck you, Asami," she says, and Asami can tell she's aiming for angry, but she just sounds as defeated as Asami feels.

"Fuck me?" Asami says. "You're the one that fucking tackled me. That was uncalled for."

Kuv props herself up on her elbow and leans over Asami. Asami's too tired to actually feel threatened. "When you came to me back in Zaofu you said we were going to be the best," Kuv says. "You said we were going to change derby. And just when we start to do all of that you throw it away - and for what? Some piece of shit rookie?"

"I'm a great jammer," Asami says, and then she shuts her eyes and sighs so hard her body shakes.

"Then _prove_ it," Kuv says, and her voice cracks. Asami's never seen her this upset before. It's actually really breaking her heart right now. Kuv gets really quiet when she adds, "You can't just kick me out. You - you can't just toss me away, Sams."

And that's ridiculous. Asami wouldn't _toss_ her away. She'd kick her out for being an ass, but they would have made up eventually, she's sure of it. Kuv's like - she's like _family._ Kuv settles back down on her stomach, and Asami flips over on top of Kuv, lying across her back. She's a bit astounded by the size difference between them, like she's practically crushing her with her size, but Kuv doesn't seem to mind, just settles with her head resting on her arms.

" _Kuv_ ," Asami says, and she draws a circle with her finger on Kuv's bicep before moving her hair behind her ear. "I'm not tossing you away, I was just upset is all. I didn't mean anything like, serious." Kuv doesn't respond, but her face settles like she's relieved more than anything else. They sit like that for a while, just in silence. And it takes a moment for Asami to really feel like herself again. She's gone from sad to angry to whatever the hell that just was with Kuv, all in under an hour. But once she's managed to process most of it and clear her head a bit, she suggests they go to bed.

"You can sleep over, if you want," she says, and Kuv blinks slowly, eyes lidded like she was already half way there. Asami really wants to ice her lip for her, but once she rolls off Kuv just heads to the couch and collapses and Asami doesn't have the heart to disturb her.

She waits until Kuv's out cold before she pulls her phone out and looks at Korra's address again.

She wants to be better for the team is the thing, be better for Kuv. And to do that she needs to settle whatever this shit is with Korra. She's got to get it out of her system. It's the only way.

~~~

It's a fifteen minute drive to Korra's apartment and Asami spends most of it figuring out what she's going to say to Korra. She's got her script in her head, everything all planned out to the last detail. She's strong and she's confident and she knows what she wants.

And then seeing Korra fucks everything up.

Korra opens the door and Asami instantly feels like someone's punched her in the chest, like she can't get enough air in her lungs and that ruins her whole plan because breathing is sort of a requirement for being able to properly speak. It's just that Korra's wearing this black t-shirt that's like, _tight_ in all the right places and when she sees Asami this warm smile settles on her face and her eyes light up. And Asami can barely hold eye-contact with Korra, let alone get out an entire speech.

"It's late," Korra says, leaning easily against the doorway.

Somewhere between leaving the car and Korra opening the door, Asami's brain must have wiped clean because she can't think of anything to say and Korra's just watching her expectantly. And then Korra fucking laughs and it has Asami's stomach all in knots. She feels vulnerable, is the thing. And she can't figure out _why_ , but she also can't will the feeling away. Or stop staring at Korra's hands. Both are equally distracting and equally occupying her mind.

"Stop doing that," Asami says. She looks up and surprisingly Korra looks more… concerned than anything else. Which is weird, she thinks, since Korra has no reason to care about how Asami feels. "Do you always have to do that?"

"Do what?" Korra says and it makes Asami angry because Korra _knows_ what she's doing. "I'm just trying to talk, Sams."

Asami's not crazy, she's not imagining this. And now she's got all this excess energy boiling inside her because she's blushing furiously at how Korra's just staring at her, how Korra's calling her _Sams_. That's a nickname only people close to Asami can use. Korra licks her lips and she's absolutely not allowed to fucking do that. Asami needs to do something with herself, feels all fidgety, but -

"What happened to your eye?" Korra asks, interrupting Asami's thoughts. "You get in a fight?"

"No, well - I mean yes, but it's not like that."

"Not like what?" Korra asks. And when Asami doesn't respond, Korra just takes her hand and Asami doesn't question it, squeezes her fingers around Korra's because that's where they _belong_. Or, like - whatever, she doesn't have the power to fight how she feels tonight. Which is the number one reason going to Korra's house was such a shit decision. "C'mon then," Korra says. "Lets get some ice on it and maybe we'll salvage your beauty."

Asami actually laughs, nervously, because she's holding Korra's hand and everything feels so surreal because she's pretty sure she's here to punch Korra in the face or give her a long speech about how she needs to fucking leave Asami alone. But with Korra's fingers resting in hers the whole world feels brighter, more cheerful. Kuv probably just knocked her head against the wall a bit too roughly.

Korra leads Asami to the kitchen and opens the freezer and she has adult people food like meat and vegetables and it definitely beats the TV dinners Asami has in her freezer, and the entire shelf dedicated to Chobani yogurt she has in the fridge. "You can cook?" Asami asks.

Korra nods. "Yeah, are you hungry?"

"No, I'm fine."

Korra pulls her fingers away to wrap some ice in a towel, and Asami tries her best not to pout. It obviously doesn't work because Korra grins at her and nudges her chin. "Knock it off, I'm just right here," she says. She presses the towel to Asami's eye, then she lingers, just holding it there like Asami can't do it herself. But Asami's glad for it because she _wants_ Korra to do it for her, likes when she's close. "So, who'd you get in a fight with?"

"Kuvira," Asami says.

Korra snorts. "You serious? She's like a wall. You were just asking for this."

"I wasn't asking for it if she hit me first." Korra stills and Asami waves the subject off. "It's not important, though. We got it all sorted out, I think." She's fine with Kuv, her problem's Korra.

"So you're here late with a black eye because you want to... help me out here, Asami. I mean, I know I said you could come over, but I didn't think you'd really - "

"I had a panic attack on my bathroom floor and fought with my team an _d_ with Kuv, and then I snuck out of my own apartment and drove over here, alright? Let's not start listing things we didn't expect to happen tonight."

It's been a long day and Asami doesn't really want to talk about it. Part of her doesn't actually want to talk about anything. She's content with just being in Korra's presence for a while.

Which, is exactly what they _should_ talk about.

Korra moves her hand from Asami's eye and examines the towel with the ice in it. She furrows her brow like there's a problem, then she looks back to Asami. "Is this cold enough, 'cos like. I mean - " Her eyes flick from Asami to the towel and back and then she hunches her shoulders all defensive like. "Did Kuv hit you because of me? Like, you said it's all my fault and now there's your eye and - "

"No no no," Asami cuts in, "this is for something else. It's - "

"Because I didn't want you to get hurt," Korra continues. "I just wanted you to..." and then she stops, her mouth hanging open slightly before it turns into a nervous half smile. Asami quirks a brow, letting her know she should continue, but Korra shakes her head. "Nah, um. You go ahead and finish what you're saying."

Korra blinks at her prettily and Asami nearly forgets Korra was on the brink of saying something that seemed really important. "C'mon," Asami pleads, but Korra just puts the towel back to Asami's eye and then she hums a bit before lifting her other hand to run her thumb over Asami's chin. Asami's having like, seven simultaneous heart attacks because Korra's staring at her lips and she hasn't had the chance to - "Ow, fuck," she says as Korra presses down on a particularly tender spot.

"Yeah, you've got another bruise," Korra says. "Looks like she got you pretty good."

Asami tries to pull her mind back to a more appropriate place. God, she's normally a reasonable woman. "Yeah, she headbutt my chin, I think. It was all so fast."

Korra pulls the towel away, then she leans in closer like, if Asami stuck her lips out she's sure she could touch Korra's skin. Not that she wants to do that, not that she's tempted to. And it's not like she's super aware of the heat radiating off of Korra or like she's holding her breath to avoid getting a nose-full of Korra's smell. Korra's just looking at her eye. She has to be close to inspect it good enough is all. Asami knows that. This is medical.

"We should sit," Korra decides. "You're probably tired."

Korra takes a few steps back and gestures toward the living room and without Korra's warmth flooding over her, Asami realizes just how hot her face is. Actually her body in general. And of course Korra also notices because she looks undoubtedly fucking impish right now. But Asami's all nerves and butterflies and she's in no place to do anything other than listen to what Korra's telling her to do because she can't properly think of any good line of action herself.

"Yeah," she says, and her voice is all airy. This is dumb. She's dumb. She's going to forever have nightmares where the only thing she sees is the look on Korra's face right now. The one that's got Asami's knees feeling like jello and her heart working over-time to pump blood to places Asami didn't approve of. Everything is betraying her today, it's like nothing wants her to succeed.

Korra starts walking, though, so Asami somehow manages to will her legs to work until she's able to plop down on the couch. It's better she thinks, sitting down. She doesn't have to worry about falling over. Just has to worry about the fact that Korra's sitting really close with her arm draped across the back of the couch, has to worry about the fact that it's getting harder to fight the urge to touch Korra. Her leg is just there; her _body_ is there and it would be nothing for Asami to reach over and place her hand on Korra's thigh, run it up until -

Korra shifts her hips, and Asami realizes she's staring. She doesn't even have to look up to know that Korra's grinning at her in that smug way of hers. She thinks she could just spontaneously combust right on this spot. It's her only option, really, because she's run out of energy and excuses to fight this. She's not familiar with the proper way to combust, so she starts focusing hard on trying to get all her atoms to explode at the same time or something.

"Are you okay?" Korra asks.

It's not working. Fuck it, whatever. Asami's got nothing to lose.

"I'm really into you," she blurts, like if she says it fast enough they just won't talk about. She's not one-hundred percent sure but she's fairly positive that Korra stops breathing. Or maybe she stops breathing. Or maybe her mind's racing so fast that she's blocking out key parts of the world in front of her. She doesn't know what to do and her only defense is to keep talking until she figures it out. "I mean not like, _really._ It's, um. I'm still figuring out. Things. Many things. Many many things. Yeah. It's a process, you know..."

Unexpectedly, Asami's reminded of her childhood. And it' weird, yeah. But right in this moment she remembers running in the house all muddied and rambling off a mile a minute to her mom and how her mom would always tell her to slow it down. Shit, now she's thinking about her mom, while she's possibly maybe thinking about what it'd be like to be sexing Korra and she really, really hates her brain right now.

But it works a bit, because she finally gets the one clear thought she's had all night. Or she at least figures out what she really wants to ask. "Do you - are you not into me too?"

Asami sounds sickeningly vulnerable, but Korra tangles her hand in her hair and grips at it until Asami's looking her in the eyes. "Yeah, of course I am," she says. "What'd you think this was all about?" She blinks slowly, like she's really confused and off-kilter for the first time in her life.

And - shit, that's a good question. Like, right now, Asami can't figure out what she was thinking just minutes ago. It all makes so much sense now that she actually laughs, involuntarily. So Korra's into her. She can figure out the rest from there. "I guess I thought you were just like, being a shitter. Rookies are always causing problems," Asami explains. "I'd just - I never. You don't expect to like, have _feelings_ for one."

Korra smiles, and Asami's practically already cringing because she knows what's coming. Korra pushes her down onto her back on the couch and climbs on top of her. "Aww," Korra coos. "Does Asami have _feelings_ for a _rookie_?" She  holds Asami's shoulders down and gasps dramatically. Asami starts squirming trying to hide her blushing face, but she's got nowhere to go, so she thumps at Korra's chest instead.

"Stop that, will you," she says, more flustered than she's ever been. " _Please_."

Korra just leans in real close, smashing their bodies together and then there's - there is _the moment that changes everything_. Korra nudges Asami's chin with her forehead, then she looks her in the eyes all intense and says, "Alright, but you have to kiss me first."

Asami could say no, maybe she  _should_ say no or at least consider it, but what actually happens is she doesn't even stop to think about it before she's straining up to kiss Korra. She's so excited that she nearly knocks their heads together. Her heart's about to spring from her chest because she finally feels just how soft Korra's lips are. And, more importantly, she feels Korra smile into her mouth, and then Asami's smiling back and it's really counterproductive, but she feels as light as a feather. She's fucking radiating rainbows and sunlight right now.

Korra bites down on her lip, though, and the sharp pain makes Asami snap back to it, gets her head in the game.

She opens her mouth and Korra's tongue is immediately there, so she meets it with her own and sucks it more into her mouth because she can be just as teasing as Korra is. Except Korra takes it as a challenge or something because she grabs Asami's chin and tilts her head back, kisses Asami so thoroughly that she has to hold on to Korra for like, stability purposes, even though she's lying down. Her lips are tingling and her head's spinning.

And she knows she's generally a good kisser but this isn't really about showing off to Korra, this is about Asami trying to take everything she can get, whatever Korra will give her.

Asami gasps when Korra drops her hand and thumbs the button on her jeans as she runs her tongue across Asami's teeth. She's desperate for it, digs her fingers into Korra's arm and presses up into her hand. But Korra pushes her back in place and makes everything messy, drags her lips down Asami's jaw leaving a hot, wet trail over everything she touches. Asami jumps at the pain when Korra nips her neck, and then that's followed by the sting of Korra sucking at her throat. Korra presses her leg between Asami's thighs and Asami reflexively twists her hand in Korra's shirt.

When Korra lifts up she bends down to kiss Asami again, sucks at her lip and bites down hard, almost to the point where Asami can't take it. But the pain just makes Asami aware of how wet she is, how she's moving against Korra's thigh, how hot it is in here. And how she's still got on all her clothes despite that fact.

It also reminds her that Kuv's back at her place, sleeping on her couch with a swollen lip and an expectation that Asami's going to be there when she wakes up. Shit.

Korra runs her thumb along Asami's lips, then drops her hand and moves her finger slow along the waist of Asami's jeans. Asami's so focused on the sensation of that, she's startled when Korra asks, "What's wrong?"

And either she's amazing at reading people or Asami's a fucking open book. "It's nothing, I just." Asami says, and her voice is devastatingly breathy. "I can't stay the night."

"So, does that mean you want to leave or - "

Asami shakes her head. "No, I just can't stay is all. If that's fine."

"You can't or you  _won't_?"

"Can't."

Korra unbuttons Asami's jeans and flicks at the elastic of her underwear, and Asami's jolted when it slaps against her skin, like she's sensitive for no good reason. Asami gets lost in it, closes her eyes and tries to focus on her breathing.

"So that's why you came here?" Korra says, and Asami opens her eyes, has to blink a few times to clear her head. "You just wanted to hook-up?" Korra's sort of smirking, that's never a good sign.

"No I. That's, um." Asami can't think straight, but she _knows_ what she wants to say. Korra's asking too many questions, Asami just wants to be touched, not interrogated.

And then suddenly Korra's not even touching her anymore. She stands from the couch and shoves her hands in her pockets. "You should probably get going then, if you have somewhere to be. I'm glad we could talk this out," she says so considerately that it actually takes Asami a moment to realize she's fucking with her.

That little shitter. Asami - _no_.

She's not going to beg for it. If Asami were any less turned on she'd be so fucking annoyed right now. It's the hardest thing she's ever done in her entire life, but she actually stands from the couch and she even buttons her pants and she walks out of Korra's apartment and _slams_ the door. And then she goes down the stairs and she opens her car door and puts on her seat belt and fucking stares at her keys in her hands for five whole minutes.

 ~~~

Asami's made a mistake.

She cut right when she should have went left and the enemy blocker clips her. Kuv is there, though, slams the blocker and sticks out an arm to whip Asami around the curve. Then Asami crosses over, first out of the pack, and as soon as the ref points the L at her she calls off the jam. There's fifteen seconds left on the official clock and the DeadlySpirits rush off the track in celebration. They take the game by two points and solidify a pretty decent tournament spot. They aren't necessarily at the top of the list, but they aren't stuck in fucking shit tier either.

Kuv grabs Asami's helmet during the chaos and kisses her cheek. "When'd the old Asami get back and where the fuck has she been?"

Asami just punches her playfully and can't help the smile that spreads across her face. It's instant and explosive and they've won their past four games so everyone's pumped all over again. "I don't know, I just feel like my head's clear, you know?"

"Guess I just needed to knock you around."

"Yeah, I guess so," Asami says as she pushes Kuv away. She skates over to her bag after that, and pulls out her phone. She doesn't have any new text messages and it's not like she's keeping track or anything, but it's been almost two weeks and she hasn't heard from Korra. Which means the first time she sees her again is probably going to be during the tournament. She's ready for it though, really this time. Korra's face when she loses is all Asami can think about.

It's not like, an _unhealthy_ thing. It motivates her, is all. Makes her do better in her games.

"You know, I haven't heard a lot from Korra lately," Kuv says at dinner after the game.

"She's probably spooked 'cos Asami's kicking ass again," Zhu Li says. "There comes a point when you have to accept that you can't fight the beast."

"Am I _the beast,_ " Asami snorts, nearly choking on her coke. "And I'd hardly say she's spooked. She doesn't seem like she ever backs down from a challenge."

"Yeah, but you're gonna show her, right?" Zhu Li says.

And the team's all ears, like Asami's about to say something profound. Asami kind of just wants to change the subject. "Look - " she says, and P'Li cuts her off.

"You should call her, tell her you're going to kick her ass in the tournament."

Kuv laughs and leans her head against Asami's shoulder. "Yeah, actually," she says. "Give her a taste of her own medicine. C'mon I'm tired of you letting her talk shit to you."

Kuv pulls out her phone and starts scrolling through it, and Asami's heart stops. Her throat's so dry that when she says, "What are you doing, Kuv," it nearly comes out as a croak.

"I'm calling Korra," Kuv says. "Got her number that day at the bar." And before Asami can object, Kuv presses it and puts it on speaker.

The team goes silent and Asami's praying to every God and cosmic entity that she can think of that Korra just doesn't answer the phone. But of course she does, and of course her voice sounds all sexy and raspy when she says, "hello," like she's just waking up. Asami's ears are like, on fire and everyone's staring at her expectantly.

She doesn't know what to do, but Korra says _hello_ again and Asami's heart jumps in her throat as she slams her hand down on the end call button.

And then everyone's just staring at her. Silently.

"You like her, don't you?" Kuv finally asks, and when Asami doesn't answer she adds, "C'mon. Out with it. We're going to give you shit about it either way, so might as well own up to it."

Asami is, well, she _wants_ to talk about it. Like, this is her team and her team is her family and if she can't talk about it with her family then there's a problem. "Yeah," she says, quiet enough that maybe no one heard.

Everyone heard it.

They all start cheering like a bunch of hooligans and a waitress has to come over and tell them to calm it down.

"I mean, she is pretty cute," Zhu Li says.

Even Eska adds, "Yeah, you should just tell her."

And then Asami cracks. "I _did_ tell her," she emphasizes. "And that - that didn't go so well."

"What?" Kuv asks, genuinely shocked. Probably because she had no idea about this and she's the closest to Asami. "Did she turn you down or something?"

Asami ducks her head, and has to breathe through this because she knows a shitstorm is going to follow. "No," she says slowly, "she fucking blue-balled me."

Asami's bracing herself for the worst, except the first thing anyone says is, "Can you really call it blue- _balled_ if you don't have balls?"

And then everyone just starts discussing what to actually call it, and Asami's really fucking glad that she has her team, hardships and all.

~~~

Kuv takes Asami to mini-golf during their off-time. It's the glow-in-the-dark one at the mall, the one Asami loves, but she's knows Kuv is just using it as an excuse to get in her head, figure out what's really going on. Kuv's extra considerate like that.

"It's okay, you know," Kuv says as she hits the ball. "If she doesn't want to date you." It misses the hole and Kuv pouts.

Asami hates how sad she sounds when she says, "I wish that were the case."

Kuv's quiet for a moment. "So she's like, she's messing with you, yeah?"

Asami nods and takes a couple fake swings at the ball. "Yeah, I can't even get a good read on her, and I'm usually pretty good at that." She pauses and looks over at Kuv. Her breath stutters. "I went over while you were sleeping at my place. You know, after we fought."

Kuv laughs, lets out a breath like she's relieved. Interesting. "Good," she says. "Thought it was me that left that massive bruise on your neck. I almost bought you flowers for someone else's hickey."

Asami frowns, "Excuse you, you just gave me a _massive_ black eye. No big deal at all."

"I thought I was losing my best friend."

"So, what?" Asami laughs. "You were just going to kill me?"

Kuv slumps into herself. "I dunno. It just felt right at the time, like I just needed to give you some cognitive recalibration."

"Shit, my head was throbbing for like four days."

"And now we're playing better," Kuv smiles. "All is well."

"Fuck you, Kuv," Asami says, and then she smiles as she gets a hole-in-one.

~~~

The tournament starts off great for the DeadlySpirits. First game is a blowout and they get a day off before they're back at it again.

The second game's not so smooth, though. Spirits are trailing for most of the first thirty minutes, but keeping it close enough to still be in the game. They take a lead late in the second half and keep it through intermission, only to see the Air Terrors' best jammer cut through their defense for twenty-eight points. She's like one of those fucking leaves that keeps floating around but no one can touch it. It's mesmerizing watching her, but they need to pull it together.

Coach calls a time-out and Asami snatches out her mouth guard as she skates to the bench. "C'mon, ladies," she says. "Lets pull it together, we didn't come all this way to go out the second round. I don't know about you, but I want me a piece of the Metal Banshees." She yells "On three!" and then counts it off and the team shouts, "Spirits," as they break from the huddle.

The Air Terrors are up more than twenty, but four jams in, Asami pulls an 18-0 run and then a couple jams after that she goes 10-0 and Kuv gets into three fights, the defenses not letting any points go by without slugging it out. The Spirits are still down ten with a little over three minutes left when the jammer for the terrors gets boxed on a track-cut call. And Asami has a matter of seconds to break the pack, get lead jammer and score enough points to give her team the lead before the other jammer's out of the box again.

Kuv does her job flawlessly, though, and the ten point deficit turns into a five point lead and by the time the Air Terror's jammer gets back on the track, it's too late. And the DeadlySpirits take home the win.

Which means Asami's getting what she wants, because the Metal Banshees are up next. But first she needs to shower and recover from the constant heart attack she was having this entire game. She's never wanted it so much. It's like consuming her now, she _needs_ to win this.

~~~

There's two days in between their last game and when they have to play the Banshees and Asami spends it building herself up. She reads some really motivating shit on a website and takes a long hot bath with some of those pretty bath bombs from Lush. And she even mixes up the colors just to watch how pretty it is when it swirls.

She talks to herself in the mirror, tells herself she can do this, reminds herself that she needs to win this game.

And she's _still_ not ready for it when she sees Korra for the first time since the apartment thing. It's just that Korra doesn't look so playful anymore, just confident and smug like she doesn't even consider Asami a challenge - which is worse. Asami's a fucking challenge, even if she had a vulnerable moment and almost had sex with Korra, she's not fucking _easy_. She's as challenging as it fucking gets.

Fuck, is that what Korra thinks? That's motherfucking ridiculous.

Asami - she, ugh. She's instantly mad, and five jams in, Korra shoulders her and she loses her head and takes a swing at Korra, only to end up in the penalty box watching Korra score forty-two points on a power-play. Jesus fucking Christ. She's so angry with herself. For everything.

Coach calls her over once she's out and shakes her helmet. "I like the anger, Sams. Keep it - but try to redirect it somewhere that isn't the other teams face, alright?"

And Asami does, she takes out everything she's feeling for Korra, all the shit that Korra's been putting her through, all the things she's been bottling up about that night - and she lays it down on the track, bringing the Spirits to a 152-151 win.

It's like, the most satisfying day of her life. The team all jump on her like they just won the World Series and Kuv can't stop smiling the whole time like she's a proud mother. And, yeah, okay. Everyone _should_ be proud because Asami pulled through and finally, really, got her shit together against Korra.

She doesn't need her anyway. She's completely over her, she thinks. At least until Korra knocks on her apartment door later that night.

Asami's calm. She is. Really. "What do you want from me?" she says, in her calm voice.

And then Korra's kissing her. Asami's definitely not over her.

Korra pushes them both into the apartment and slams Asami against the wall, her mouth pressed hard against Asami's, teeth scraping at her lips. And it hurts, but it doesn't hurt. Like, Asami wants it, she can't even lie to herself about it. But part of her also wants to push Korra off of her and punch her and yell at her for being a complete ass.

She has half a mind to do just that, until Korra sticks her hand down the front of Asami's sweats and Asami's entire body just crumples into Korra. When she finally gathers enough strength to pull her face away from Korra's mouth, the only thing she can think to say is, "Bedroom."

Korra takes a step back and there's this supercharged moment where they're both just staring at each other. Asami likes Korra, she really really likes her, and she knows - shit, she _knows_ that Korra feels the same. It's not just a game. It was never just a game to either one of them, only she can't figure out -

"Stop _thinking_ about it so much," Korra says, like she's so angry that her body can't hold it all in. "You're like," she gestures, "all in your head and shit."

Asami sighs. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?"

"You lost."

Korra's eyes widen like that's news to her. "No, I'm fine," she says. "I just want to hook-up. Like you."

"I didn't _just_ want to hook-up, I..." Asami stops, shit. "Is that what you think?"

Korra looks lost and Asami rolls her eyes. Then she walks over and kisses Korra's dumb mouth. Leave it to her to have a thing for the world's most complicated rookie. "That's not what I want, I told you I have feelings for you."

"Yeah, so you could get in my pants," Korra says. "We were barely two minutes in and you were thinking about your escape plan." She pouts and it's even cuter than it'd normally be because her mouth's all puffy from kissing. And then Korra pulls her bottom lip in and starts chewing on it and it's like the heat gets turned up in the room.

Asami wishes there was a way she could like, fast-forward through this fight. But that's a really douchey thing to think since Korra's actually feeling all twisted inside.

"I told you it was a _can't_ situation, not a _won't_."

"Yeah, and why _couldn't_ you?" Korra says, all aggression.

It's amusing, but Asami knows better than to laugh. "It's 'cos Kuv was sleeping over and I snuck out to see you. I wanted to get back before she woke up because we'd just fought and shit."

Korra considers that, then she grabs Asami's hand and practically drags her to the bedroom. There's clothes and derby shit all over the floor and Asami would be embarrassed about how messy it is if Korra wasn't giving her that look. "Fine," Korra says.

Asami can't help how relieved she sounds when she says, "Good," and puts her hands on Korra's waist. She gets so distracted with touching Korra, that she somehow misses when Korra puts a hand on her chest, pushes her down on to the bed. She straddles Asami's waist and grabs her wrists to hold her hands above her head; then she leans down and licks into Asami's mouth before kissing her hard and deep. She's keeping everything slow, making Asami strain for more, only Asami's trapped with not much room to move so she just has to follow Korra's pace.

It's crazy, but when Korra takes her hands off Asami wrists to start lifting her shirt, Asami somehow knows she's supposed to keep her arms up. Like, there's nothing stopping her from moving them, but her mind's content with obeying the command that Korra didn't even have to give. And then Korra pulls her shirt over her head and she's not wearing a bra, so she's just... _exposed._ Korra goes straight for her nipple, rolling it around between her teeth, and Asami gasps and arches up because that's always been the most sensitive part of her body.

Korra lifts her head and looks down at Asami, studying her face for a moment. And then, like she's lost her patience, she just pulls off Asami's sweats and underwear basically all in one go. Asami should probably feel weird or self-conscious since Korra's still got everything on and she's got on nothing, but she doesn't. She's comfortable with it, comfortable with Korra.

She's even okay when Korra spreads her legs, kneels between them and starts kissing her way down Asami's torso. Asami can appreciate delayed gratification, but - _oh_.

The first time Korra runs her tongue up Asami's sex, Asami moans so loud it echoes off the walls of the room. Then she finally drops her hands and twists them in Korra's hair as she spreads her legs until her thighs burn and pulls Korra's face in. It feels so good, like she's waited for this for so long this. Maybe her virginity _did_ grow back. Maybe Kuv was right.

Asami starts rocking her hips and Korra just keeps up with her. She keeps licking and then she sucks down hard on Asami's clit. Her fingers are a welcome surprise, deliciously dry compared how wet Asami is. She sticks in two right away and then she spreads them apart and holds them there, uses her other hand to hold Asami down as she slows everything down again. And Asami's painfully close to the edge, keeps trying to lift up for more contact, but Korra's too strong, she's not going anywhere. Asami's getting more hot and desperate by the second, can feel her heart hammering against her chest. Then Korra scrapes her teeth across Asami's clit and pinches hard at her skin all at once and Asami's body jerks as she wraps her legs around Korra, muttering, " _Fuck, jesus, fuck._ "

Korra lifts up and gently kisses the inside of her thigh and her face is wet and Asami's sweaty, so they're sort of sticking to each other.

"Good?" Korra asks, out of breath.

"Yeah," Asami says, trying to blink the haze away. She reaches down and grabs at Korra's hair, tugs until Korra gets the message that she wants her to move up. Korra hovers over her face, but she's not kissing her, which is what Asami really, really wants.

"I lost," Korra says, like it's just now sinking in. "I really wanted the title, but I think - I think I wanted even more to not look like an idiot in front of you."

"You're a rookie, you're allowed to look like an idiot," Asami says, and Korra pulls a face so she ruffles her fluffy hair. "But, you didn't alright. You're really good out there, you know?"

Korra half-shrugs and smiles all lop-sided. "Of course I am," she says. "This is the last time I _let_ you win."

Asami snorts, and then she uses what energy she has left to flip the both of them over. She pulls Korra's shirt over her head and nudges at her jeans until Korra lifts up and helps Asami take them off. Then she lies on top of Korra, their skin touching with nothing between them. It feels right, like this is how it's supposed to be. This close Asami can see Korra's _really_ blue eyes and her pretty eyelashes and she can _feel_ Korra's breathing, every muscle expanding and contracting.

"You just gonna sit there," Korra says, "or are you going to do something?" And Asami nips at her lip as she moves a hand down between Korra's legs. Korra gasps into her mouth and it's maybe the first time Asami's quite obviously stripped her of her composure. She runs with it, grabs at Korra's hair and pulls her head back, nips along her neck as she pushes her fingers in and works up a pace. Korra's throat is pulsing beneath Asami's lips, her body jerking like she's wanted this more than even Asami did. And then Asami pulls her fingers out, just starts moving them in slow circles and Korra moans brokenly, bites down onto Asami's shoulder.

"C'mon, _fuck_ , Sams," Korra gasps and Asami smiles down at her smugly, because she gets to be smug for once. It's not all Korra. Then she dips her fingers back in, presses her thumb down hard on Korra's clit. Korra's eyes aren't even closed when she comes, she's just staring up at the ceiling like she's crazily pleased with the fucking world. Her body spasms and she digs her nails into Asami's arm and all at once she just collapses into the bed.

Her mouth curls into a smile afterwards, and it's not smug or taunting - it's just Korra. And Asami thinks that might be her best one.

~~~

"Wow wow wow," Kuv says, over lunch, as Asami tells her what happened. "I thought you might kill her after that game, not fuck her."

Asami eats a fry and nods. It's a good point. "Yeah, same. But she showed up, and I don't know. I can't explain it."

"The heart wants what the heart wants, yeah?" Kuv teases and Asami doesn't even fight it, just tries to hide her dumb grin in her soda. "But, like - actual finals are coming up, so how's that gonna go?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, you know. If shit happens."

"It's not."

Kuv quirks a brow. "Already got wedding plans?"

"I mean," Asami says, "we don't even have _dating_ plans. We just kind of fucked."

"So that's all it was then?"

No, that's not it. It was more than that, Asami knows it. She's just - afraid of being hopeful, maybe. "I'm not sure. We didn't really discuss long-term plans."

Kuv sighs, then she smiles a bit more warmly than she normally does. "Can you just, be careful, alright?"

"Yeah," Asami says. She's got everything together. She can handle Korra. It's no big deal. "Don't worry about it."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for being nice, friends (8


	3. So, all this shit happened.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> alright, here's part 3 of my first stab at korrasami. you guys have been cool and nice and this is far from perfect but it's my go at it. im definitely writing more of this pairing in the future, and i might possibly add another chapter to this depending on if i really want to. right now im okay with it, though. also, appreciate all the feedback.
> 
> anyway, that's it from me. hope you enjoy (8

The problem with liking someone is that you don't consider how much of yourself you're actually investing into it until it's too late.

So when Korra doesn't call, doesn't respond to Asami's texts, makes a statement to the press about _knowing how to defeat Asami_ , it hits Asami hard. Because in every situation that she's managed to think up, it didn't come to this. She's never been just - flat out  _shut down_ before. It makes her realize how much she relies on Korra's teasing and how relentless she was in going after Asami.  It makes her aware of how much she thinks about Korra, how much Korra's actually occupying her mind, how she keeps sending Korra dumb shit about what she's eating for breakfast or whatever even though Korra isn't responding. She thought she had this all under control, but she doesn't. This is, well. It's new territory.

And Asami's basically a walking zombie because she doesn't really know how much she can take anymore. Kuv's considerate enough to give her a couple days before she actually calls her out on it. Mostly by saying bad things about Korra.

They're both curled up in Asami's bed and Kuv's big spooning her and stroking her arm. The team suggested she come over to "end Asami's slump". They don't know about the late-night-bad-decision-sex, but Kuv does. "I bet you're great in bed, Sams," she says, pulling Asami's hair off her face and behind her ear. "Korra's just an ass-face alright?"

Asami likes that, they should keep complimenting her and calling Korra names. And maybe that'll finally convince her brain to reverse and do the same. "Yeah," Asami says, "I really think she was into it, so like. Maybe she's just not into _me_. I don't - I don't even think she was trying to fuck me over, like maybe she realized it in the moment and - "

" _Sams_ , you're dwelling on it," Kuv says. "There's probably an explanation or something. Or maybe it was just sex. It happens."

"It didn't _feel_ like just sex," Asami blurts, like she can't stop herself. And now she feels like crying because she sounds like a whiny little twat in front of Kuv and also because she's convinced there's nothing good in the world.

"I bet she does like you," Kuv says after a long pause. And it actually feels genuine, like Kuv one-hundred percent believes what she's saying. "She's probably just fucking with you again, you know?"

"But why would she do that? I don't get it."

Asami doesn't know what Korra wants. She's not expecting roses and cards, but like, a text would be fucking cool at least. They _fucked_. And it was nice. And Korra was nice. And they should totally just be really respectful and highly competitive associates that maybe call each other and hang out sometimes (or fuck sometimes). And don't make anger-provoking statements to the media. But Korra doesn't understand that and google alert keeps sending Asami links to different articles and Asami can't read another _Korra_ statement, but she also can't _stop_ reading statements.

She actually cracked when Zhu Li came to practice with a newspaper snippet of Korra making an off-handed comment about how she _knows_ she's gotten under Asami's skin.

It's not like secret sex jokes to the public are cool or like Asami wants to play this dumb game where they dodge each other in real life and talk mad shit to the press. And Korra would know all of this if she just picked up the fucking phone and called Asami before opening her damn mouth.

"Well," Kuv says after a while, "You could just go to the derby mixer tomorrow night, find a girl that makes you forget all about Korra. That's also an option."

It doesn't work that way. Kuv knows that. But Asami says, "Yeah," anyway. She shoves her face in her pillow and sighs. "Thanks for like, for not ridin' my ass or anything about this."

"Of course," Kuv says. "There's always the future, you know, for ribbing you. Right now it's just important you're alright."

"It's not a big deal, anyway," Asami says, more to herself than Kuv. "I'm just like - I mean in my head I know it's not a big deal, but I'm making it one anyway."

"So you liked her and she fucked you over," Kuv says. "It's alright to feel like shit, I've been there."

Asami's silent for a while, but then it's like something clicks. "Suyin?" she asks, and she can feel Kuv's body tense up.

"Yeah," Kuv says, shoving her nose in Asami's hair. "But it's not like that. Not like a sex thing."

"What's it like then?"

Kuv shifts, sighs heavily. "When I was leaving for the city with you I told her to come. She said city derby wasn't her thing, you know? Like she was sticking to her roots and what she knows. And then she just fucking showed up here months later with the Metal Banshees. I felt betrayed, you know. We were like family."

"But her and Lin _are_ family."

"She doesn't even fucking like Lin," Kuv snaps. "Or, at least she didn't when - " Kuv shakes her head and Asami doesn't want to press the issue, knows Kuv's upset without even looking at her. "But it's fine. I'm over it."

"Except you take a shot at her every chance you get," Asami says softly. She doesn't want to hurt Korra. That's not where she wants this to end up. She at least wants them to agree and make it explicit that there's nothing between them. That's the adult thing to do and even Korra has to step up to that plate, rookie or not. "Like, maybe you two need to sit down and - "

"No," Kuv says, firmly. "Suyin and I have nothing to talk about. Next time you see Korra tell her to step up or step off. And in the mean time, you should just enjoy the mixer tomorrow. And I'll try to do the same, alright?"

"Alright. But, I don't want a girl. I just want to drink."

"Then do it," Kuv says. "You've played your ass off these past few games, and you're killing it in practice. You deserve to let loose."

Asami flicks at her pillow case and tries not to sound desperate when she says, "You think Korra will be at the mixer tomorrow? I mean, it's not like I'm trying to - "

"Hey," Kuv says, lifting up. "if she is there, then just tell her straight up. If she isn't - look, don't let her ruin your night."

~~~

When the next night comes Asami gets all made up to go to the party. It's been five official days with nothing from Korra, and if she keeps waiting by the phone she'll just hate herself so she needs to shake this. She spends too much time on her hair, but she also looks hot as shit so it's totally worth it. Just in case Korra, like... whatever.

Going with Kuv has its benefits, like Asami's not alone. If it comes down to the worst possible scenario, she's got back-up.

The house is packed when they get there, people dancing everywhere and none of them are Korra. Five minutes in Asami loses Kuv and then she gets dragged to the kitchen by some rookies so they can shove drinks in her and pick her brain about derby.

Asami starts with beer, PBR or some shit and follows that with whiskey and then some shots of tequila and something called a Starry Night. And then she's the kind of drunk where she keeps blinking like she can't see anything even though her eyes are wide open. There's this one rookie who sticks around after everyone's either bored of talking derby or too drunk to care. Her name's, um - fuck. Asami doesn't know. But she gets all close, moving to the music and she smiles all teeth, her eyes crinkling at the edges.

"I see why Korra's so into you," she says, and Asami is vaguely sure this girl plays for the Metal Banshees. If she's here, maybe Korra's here. Or, _jeez_ , she's supposed to forget Korra, but it's all she can think about. She needs to actively will herself to forget her.

And it kind of seems a bit impossible, but the task's not as hard as Asami thinks. The music's pretty good. She can feel the thud-ud-ud of the beat pumping through her veins, through her blood, her body's a fucking vessel for the music. She needs to dance. She starts swaying her hips, lazy and easy. Keeps running her hands through her hair, all sweaty and messy and her mind's being filled with nothing but the loud bass of the music and pure fucking bliss. And there's the rookie dancing all over her, which is nice, but at the same time she doesn't care. She's not here for _that_ , just here for this feeling that's flooding through her right now.

She hasn't been this happy since winning MVP last year after taking home the championship. Before she met a _certain_ rookie who does nothing but give her problems.

She doesn't need Korra, she just needs her friends, needs Kuv.

But Kuv's off in a corner doing some shit with some other blockers, being all crazy. They're like fucking around and wrestling or something. Whatever strong women with a lot of drinks and a lot of energy do. Kuv should be with Asami, though, dancing and feeling what it's like to be this happy. Every little thing feels like the funniest shit in the world - the way Asami keeps tripping when she's walking over to Kuv, the way someone's hands keep grabbing at her, how she keeps making little sounds but not saying any real words, the way people yell out every five seconds like they're watching a touchdown happen. And then she gets close to the wrestling and there's the elbow that smacks her in the nose and sends her flying to the ground.

Actually, the last one isn't that funny. It kind of hurts. A lot.

Asami's instantly nauseous, like so dizzy that the world's actually spinning. Maybe it's the drinks or the impact or maybe it's the fact that she doesn't like blood, but she can see it on her shirt and when she touches her face it's on her hand. The only thing she can think to do is put the blood back in, back inside her body where it belongs. So she shoves her palm up her face but she feels like all she's doing is making everything messy and the pull makes her lip hurt really bad. And she's not sure anymore if the blood is coming from her nose or mouth or both or if it's ever going to stop. Maybe she's about to fucking die and everyone's just standing around watching.

Everything isn't funny anymore, it's a bit overwhelming and Asami can't think straight. She just wants to curl up in a ball and stop existing right now, because that's the best option, right? It's the one that makes the most sense. 

Now the music's just distracting and too loud and Asami's so out of it she barely notices she's being lifted from the floor. And then suddenly she's being carried and she's just sort of grateful for it, feels like an angel is whisking her away. She looks up to thank the angel, only to realize she's in... _Korra's_ arms - which is motherfucking ridiculous. Korra can't pick her up. Asami's taller than Korra. That's like simple Chemistry, or Physics. Whatever, science. When did Korra even get here?

It's the first thing Asami means to ask, when Korra takes her to the bathroom, closes the door to block out the music and places Asami down on the edge of the bath tub. She has a completely reasonable question in mind, but when she opens her mouth it decides to say, "You have arms, so nice." Which is, shit, okay. She needs to get it together.

Korra stares at her blankly, hands firm on Asami's arms and it makes Asami feel stable, like she's not swaying anymore and the worlds not spinning. She feels less nauseous and less like she's going to die. Then Korra lets her go and stands up straight, heads to the sink to wet a towel and Asami feels everything going to shit again. Fuck.

"Try to stay upright," Korra says. "Just give me a sec to wet this towel." She gestures her hand over her face. "You're _bleeding_."

Oh yeah, the blood. Asami forgot about that. She needs a new shirt. "My shirt has blood on it," she points out. "How did I do that?"

"You walked right into an elbow," Korra says, and there's something aggressive about her tone. Like clipped anger or something. It makes Asami feel like she's in trouble, like a kid who just broke her mom's favorite vase. She didn't do anything, she thinks. She can't really remember though. Korra sighs and walks over to kneel in front of Asami. "Try to hold still. I'm gonna clean you up."

"I'm fine," Asami finds herself saying, because that's - there's absolutely nothing true about that statement.

Korra's jaw is clenched, pulsing like she's grinding her teeth, and she's silent far too long for Asami's liking. She just lifts the towel, though, softly starts cleaning Asami's face. Doesn't even manage to hurt Asami's probably busted lip. When she finally speaks it's remarkably calm. "We can't keep meeting like this," she says.

Asami lifts a brow. "Like what?"

"You being hurt. I don't like seeing you like this, alright?"

"Well maybe you should be around more, then," Asami slurs. "To like, to protect me. Instead of ignoring me." She has this moment of realization that Korra probably thinks she's just hurt all the time. She needs to clarify, to make Korra know that she's only been hurt recently. It's not like, a common thing. Only, Asami can't seem to string a sentence together right in this moment because Korra's eyes are studying her so intensely, so seriously, that she might just melt right on the edge of this tub.

"Maybe I should go find Kuv to get you home," Korra says abruptly.

Asami tries to lean forward with conviction, but she just ends up swaying to the side. "Why? I want to talk to you."

"I want to talk too," Korra says softly, "but - but what you said... I want you to be sober when you say things like that."

"I  _am_ sober."

"You're not," Korra says. "I wish you were, but you're not."

"Why were you ignoring me?"

Korra pulls the towel away and Asami doesn't feel anything dripping down her lip anymore so at least the bleeding's over. Korra presses her lips together, like she's considering something. "I really want to talk about this," she says, "but - "

"You don't want me, that's it? Yeah?" Asami can't, she's not in control of anything anymore. She might start crying or puking or she just might pee her pants. All are an equal possibility right now. Korra's hand on her thigh is the only real link she has to stability. She moves it, though, and grabs Asami's hand. Then she starts wiping the blood off it. Asami's a complete fucking mess right now and probably in no position to be asking if someone's into her. Obviously no one's into _this_. "I guess that makes sense, then."

"That's not it, Asami. That's actually completely opposite of how I feel."

"You're pushing me away. You don't like me."

Korra crumples like this conversation is breaking her. Asami doesn't know why, it's pretty straight forward. "I'm pushing you away _because_ I like you," Korra says.

Asami may be drunk, but, "That makes absolutely no fucking sense. Sorry," she adds, because that came out a little harsh.

Korra swallows and Asami gets lost in watching how her throat moves, thinking about how she just wants her mouth on Korra's neck, just wants her mouth on Korra. Or maybe the other way around. Or maybe they can both put their mouths on each other. "I don't know," Korra whispers. "I thought maybe I needed to distance myself. To like get perspective or something - I just... don't know. Can we do this when you're sober? Please?" She blinks up at Asami really really prettily and, honestly, Asami's pretty sure she'd do absolutely anything Korra says right now.

"Okay," Asami says. "Okay. But don't leave me. I need you."

Korra closes her eyes defeatedly. "You can't just say stuff like that," she says. "You're making things really hard for me right now. I - just let me get you home, and I promise I'll call you tomorrow. We can do this then. Right now it's, um."

Asami doesn't understand. "Why's it hard?"

"Because I really want to believe what you're saying, but I'm pretty sure you don't even know what your last name is right now."

That is not true. "It's _Sato_ ," Asami says with extra emphasis. She can't help the smile that spreads across her face because she totally just proved Korra wrong. Maybe she really isn't drunk. She's got this.

"It is," Korra says, and she smiles back. Plus one for Asami. "I guess I was wrong about that." She wraps an arm around Asami's waist and nudges for Asami to put her arm over Korra's shoulders. "I won't force you to sit in a cab if you promise not to puke in my car," she says, lifting Asami from the edge of the tub. "I just want to make sure you get back safe."

"I promise," Asami says, and rubs her face in Korra's hair before she remembers how much pain she's in. She pulls her head back and checks to see if her face is bleeding again. Thankfully, it's not. "I'm taller than you, by the way."

Korra nods. "Yes, you are." And then she laughs a bit and kisses Asami's ear and Asami never ever wants to leave her arms.

Even though Korra said it, somewhere along the walk Asami forgets the destination is Korra's car. The cool air hits her when they make it outside, and it's sobering enough for her to remember she should probably tell Kuv she's leaving the party. "We have to tell Kuv," she says.

"I told her I'd handle it before I picked you up off the floor, alright? I haven't had anything to drink, and she's had a few." Korra puts Asami on her feet so she can open the car door, and Asami holds on to her arm like her life's depending on it. "You'll be fine," Korra assures her. " And I'll shoot Kuv a text, so she knows you're safe."

Asami nods and climbs in the passenger seat. And even though she's only a fraction more sober, she's still now aware enough to be more than a little embarrassed at the last hour of her life.

"I'm really sorry," she says, innocently enough, as Korra climbs into the driver's seat.

"For what? For drinking? We've all been there, Sams. It's okay." Korra leans over and buckles Asami's seat-belt for her. Then she does her own. "And I'll get on Su about elbowing you later, okay?"

" _Su_ hit me?"

Korra just sighs. "Yeah, her and Kuv were going at it or some shit, they really need to settle that. Kiss and make up."

"It's not a sex thing. Kuv said," Asami adds.

Korra rolls her eyes and briefly turns to look at Asami. "It's totally a sex thing. There's nothing else to explain _that_ much tension."

And since Asami can't think of another explanation, she just says, "Yeah." She bites down on the swollen part of her lip and bristles at the pain, then she stares at Korra a while before asking, "Do you want to be with me?"

"I - okay, we're going to have this conversation, just not now. I just want - we should have it when - "

"I'm sober?"

"When you don't have someone else's lipstick on your cheek."

"Oh."

 

When they get to her apartment, Asami's more than a little glad that Korra's there.

She's one-hundred percent certain she wouldn't have made it up the stairs alone, and probably would have spent the night sleeping in a random sketchy corner outside a stranger's door. But Korra helps her up, practically carries her half the way, and she even lets Asami in and changes her out of her shirt and doesn't even stare at Asami's boobs when she's only wearing a bra (sadly). Asami's still drunk enough to giggle at her own boobs, but she's not drunk enough to try to make a move on Korra.

But Korra puts Asami in a new shirt and she tucks her into bed and takes off her pants and feeds her water and then she runs her hand through Asami's hair until Asami can't keep her eyes open anymore. And Asami just keeps thinking that she's so so so glad Korra's there.

It feels nice having her back. Right where she belongs.

~~~

Asami can't remember the last time she slept like a baby. But, then again, she can't remember the last time she felt like everything was good in the world. It's weird, but she wakes up and just feels like she's on the _right_ side of the bed for once.

Then she notices the arms wrapped around her and feels the body pressed against her back and has a mini panic attack before she flips over and sees Korra... of all people. Korra slowly blinks her eyes open, and it takes a moment before she clearly focuses them on Asami.

"You're here," Asami says, throat stiff and lip stinging. And that jolts her mind back to Su's elbow and Korra driving her home and apparently spending the night and fuck, Asami's never, ever drinking again.

"I needed - I wanted you to be alright," Korra fumbles out. She looks entirely unsure of herself and Asami just kisses her right away so there's no confusion. She wants Korra here and she wants her to stay and she doesn't want any arguments. She can apologize later for her morning breath. Asami winces at the pain in her lip after a few seconds and Korra smiles into her mouth. "So, that's settled then, yeah?"

Asami pouts. "Can it be?" She's really tired of all the confusion.

"You're doing nothing for your hard-ass reputation," Korra laughs. "You can't be cute and pouty and totally into rookies."

Asami rolls her eyes. "Is that the next statement you're going to give to the press, or are you waiting for me to cough up something better."

"Hey, I'm at least getting your attention." Korra says, like it's a feat. She rubs her hand over her face a few times and perks up suddenly. She yawns as she sits up in bed. "I could use some coffee. You have some here?"

"Yeah, it's in one of the top cabinets," Asami says, settling more into the pillow to suggest she's not getting up. "Grab me a cup too, yeah?"

"Sure you don't need water and Aspirin?"

"Coffee's fine," Asami says, swatting at Korra's arm to tell her to get going.

"Alright, alright. You have sugar here?"

Asami nibbles on her lip and it's painful. She needs to break that habit while she's injured. "What, I'm not sweet enough for you?" she tries.

Korra - she _blushes_. "Wow," she says, "what monster did I wake up in you this morning?"

"Are you complaining?"

Korra winks. "Not at all." That smug little fucker.

"Get outta here and get me some coffee," Asami says. "The sugar should also be in a top cabinet, since I can't fulfill your needs."

Korra laughs and shakes out her fluffy hair, then she runs her hands through it. Which, only makes it messier. It's fucking cute. And then she stands and leaves the room. She takes a fucking century in the kitchen, though, and if Asami weren't half dead with a massive hangover she might be tempted to get out of bed. But, as it is, she's just patiently waiting for her damn rookie to get back with the coffee.

When Korra finally walks in the room again she's all smiles, clutching two mugs.

"Took you long enough," Asami says.

Korra carefully sits on the bed and tilts her head, telling Asami to sit up before she hands her the mug. "I was just making sure it was the right temperature for you to drink. I don't think your mouth needs anymore abuse."

That's, wow. It's really sweet and considerate and Asami probably doesn't deserve that. "Thanks," she says, trying to hide her face behind her mug. "Guess you're pretty great when you're not talking shit about me."

Korra nearly spits her coffee back in her cup. "What? I only ever talk about how amazing you are."

Well, when she puts it that way. "I - shit. I'm just dumb, alright?"

"Alright."

"Stop it," Asami gushes. "You can't _agree_ with me."

"Fine, I'm dumb too. That better?"

"Yes," Asami says. "At least now there's some sort of solidarity." She sips at her coffee and it really is the perfect temperature. "So the sex - you didn't think it was bad?"

Korra furrows her brows. "Of course not, you're amazing. And like - I just thought I was over-reaching, is all."

"What do you mean?"

Korra shrugs and it's like all the confidence she's ever had just slides off her at once. "All rookies are just dumb and annoying, right? It'd be stupid to think you'd want to like - you'd want more with me."

"It's not _stupid_. I mean, you're fresh-meat when it comes to derby, but this is about relationships. That's a different scene."

"Is it, though?" Asami opens her mouth, but she doesn't have a good enough answer. "What were you doing drinking so much anyway," Korra asks. She scoots closer to Asami like being more than eight inches apart is too large a distance.

"I was trying to get over you." Which, was probably not such a good plan in hindsight, but whatever. Korra's here so it at least worked out okay. Well, except for Asami's lip. And nose. And her favorite shirt.

"Oh," Korra breathes out. "Just um - don't do that."

Asami chuckles. "Don't do what? Don't drink too much or don't get over you?"

"Neither," Korra says resolutely and Asami can't help it, leans in to kiss her because Korra's really cute and Asami thinks they've sufficiently established that she has the right to do that.

She's rewarded by Korra immediately kissing her back. And it's gentle, the way she does it - navigates around the sore parts of Asami's face, runs her tongue along the cut on her lips. She pulls off for a moment and sets their cups aside, then she comes back and nudges Asami down on the pillows. Korra hovers above Asami and Asami has one of those dumb moments where she notices all the fine details of Korra's impossibly perfect face. She almost can't breathe from how lucky she feels to have her here, have her this close.

Korra's fingers trail through her hair and Asami realizes it's probably a mess and only a shower could save it at this point. Which, honestly isn't a bad idea. But Korra drops her hand to Asami's chin and tilts her head back, leans in real close like she's going to kiss her and her lips even part - but then she just starts laughing and falls over on the bed next to Asami while she's still giggling. It's really cute but also, like, huh?

"What are you laughing at?" Asami says, turning to face Korra.

"Just thinking of all the flowers I'll have to buy you when I kick your ass in the championship."

Asami rolls her eyes. "Don't buy me anything, because I won't need it. You're the one that needs to worry with your shit crossover on turns."

Korra's eyes glimmer like she's ready for a challenge, and before Asami can say anything, she's off the bed and grabbing Asami's skates. "Teach me then," she says, a special light in her eyes. "Just so like - we're on equal ground."

"First," Asami groans, struggling to pull herself upright, "we're not skating in my _apartment._ And second - " Korra's not even listening, which means Asami has no choice - she climbs off the bed and walks over to straddle Korra right on the floor. She slides up Korra's thighs and presses their stomachs together. "C'mon, I thought we were going to do something else."

Korra's eyes flutter and she drops the skate from her hand and fills it with Asami's ass instead. "You're cheating," she says. "You can't control me with your body."

"Can't I?"

Asami yelps as Korra flips them in one swift motion, and then she's on her back and Korra's on top of her. They could be in this position _on the bed_ if Korra wasn't being so uncivilized. "You can't, I just said that. Don't you listen?"

"Not to _rookies_ ," Asami says, but Korra's got her trapped so it's not as effective.

Korra starts laughing and Asami just wants to prove her point that she _can_ control Korra with her body - so she slips her shirt off while Korra's distracted. And it's satisfying, the way Korra's laugh dies down when her eyes travel over Asami's torso. Asami bites the side of her lip that's not bruised, but when nothing happens immediately she becomes horribly self-conscious. Like, Korra's all toned and stuff and Asami's pretty sure she has like, love-handles or something. Maybe this isn't her best angle.

After forever, Korra fin _ally_ bends down and kisses at the corner of Asami's mouth, then drops to her neck and makes her way down to Asami's stomach. "Okay, you win," she says, rubbing her face against Asami's abs, or like, the spot where they're supposed to be. "Fuck, you're so attractive it's not fair."

Asami's laugh practically jumps out of her and she drops her hands to run her fingers through Korra's hair. "You're sitting between my legs, what's not fair?"

Korra moves up and laughs into Asami's boobs. "I never had a chance did I? All up in my face first time we meet, asking me to dinner."

Asami rolls her eyes. "We gonna fuck or not?"

And then she's shocked by Korra's hand, hot on the inside of her thigh, pressing her legs open. " _Jeez_ , so impatient," Korra teases and lifts up to slide her hand inside Asami's underwear. Asami's only response is to tilt her head back and moan, because she's wanted this ever since Korra left her apartment, wanted this from the moment it ended last time. Korra's looking down at her amused and it's warm and. Oh, god. Her fingers are thick in Asami, spreads her open, and Asami can _feel_ herself adjusting to them, feel her eyes water with how good it is.

"Got nothing else to say, huh?" Korra asks.

And Asami mumbles, "no," flushed, like she's asking for more. She grinds down on Korra's fingers and Korra's breath catches as she bites down on her own lip. It's intense, the two of them just staring at each other, and Asami's not even really naked but she feels more exposed than she ever has before. It's just - the way Korra lays one arm across Asami's chest and holds her down as she fucks her, real weight to it too like she's really trying to keep Asami from going anywhere. She's moving her fingers slowly in this mind-numbing rhythm, and the drag feels... fantastic inside Asami.

Korra - she's intense, studying Asami as Asami falls apart beneath her. It all becomes too much when Korra presses her thumb to Asami's clit. Asami loses it, keeps blinking her eyes trying to stay focused. She barely notices when she starts muttering Korra's name, soft, like she's asking for something even though she doesn't know what it is.

Korra jumps into action, though. Or, well, _words_. "You're so perfect, you know?" She lifts her arm and pushes Asami's hair off her face. "And I'm not going anywhere. Not this time." She runs her thumb across Asami's lips and that somehow triggers her legs to spread even wider. "You don't have to worry about that. Stop holding back."

Asami's body follows instructions before Asami even realizes what she's been doing and she lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, chest heaving like she can't get any air in anymore. Korra switches angles and picks up the speed before Asami has the chance to fully process anything. And it's the combination of feeling like she can't breathe and Korra's fingers clashing with all the right places inside of her that sends Asami over the edge. Everything slows down and Korra's close but it's suddenly like she's far away and it feels like Asami's heart might actually jump out of her chest with the way it's hammering against her skin. And her ears, even her ears are tingling. She doesn't even know where she is anymore. Jesus fuck. Korra presses her shoulder down, and that somehow snaps Asami back to reality.

"Holy shit," Korra says, "that was intense." And Asami's not absolutely certain, but she's pretty sure that it's not sweat trickling down her cheek right now. Korra pulls her up and into her arms immediately. "Hey, shit, don't - don't cry, it's alright."

"Sorry," Asami says, like it's ripped from her throat. And then she tangles her fingers in Korra's shirt. The thing is - she's not quite sure _why_ she's crying, but it's - it feels nice. Like a weights being lifted off her and she doesn't feel so heavy anymore.

Korra runs her hand over her back. "Is it me? Did I do something?"

Asami waits until she calms a bit, then sniffs and presses her nose to Korra's neck. She feels normal again after a while. Her heads not spinning anymore at least. "I don't - no," she says, pulling away to look Korra in the eyes. "It's just. I feel like I'm changing, like I'm having these feelings and thoughts I don't normally have. It's just a bit scary, is all."

Korra pulls Asami in her lap and snuggles her face in her hair. "Change can be good," she says and Asami snorts. It sounds all weird, though, since she was just crying and she's pretty sure that's why Korra starts laughing. "I'm sorry, you just started crying in the middle of sex. I just - I can't think of anything good to say. I'm just a _rookie_. Too much pressure."

"I'm sorry I ruined the mood," Asami says, cheeks hot with embarrassment. "I wasn't, you don't expect to just like, _cry_. Oh god just kill me now please." She tries her best to bury her face in Korra's chest but Korra's being a dick and not letting her.

"Hey, c'mon. At least I can't say you're not interesting," she _laughs_. And she's not laughing with Asami because Asami doesn't think this is funny at all, so the only other explanation is that she's laughing _at_ Asami. "I bet the reporters will love this." And fuck, Korra shouldn't even joke about that - if it even is a joke. Asami's absolutely horrified either way.

"If you tell the press, that will seriously affect my ability to date you," she says.

Korra smiles even wider. "Oh, so we're dating now?"

Oh fucking god it's like a never ending fountain of unintended shit flowing from her mouth right now and she needs to shut it and never speak again and become a nun and only communicate through letters like fucking Heloise or some shit. She takes three breaths to calm her heart down, then says, "Yeah, _maybe_. I mean, the team calls you my girlfriend anyway, so it's not like - " Fuck.

"I just found out we're dating, and now I'm your _girlfriend_?" Korra's body is shaking with how hard she's laughing and Asami only feels hate. Like, deep down in her soul there is nothing but a pit of hate. She's officially a changed woman.

"Don't you have somewhere you need to be or something?"

Korra just pulls her in closer. "No, I'd much rather sit here and watch you squirm."

"But I don't want to squirm."

"You want your girlfriend to be nice to you?" Korra asks, like Asami's a baby.

Asami's not a baby, but she's pouting anyway. She can't help it. "That's the dream, you know?"

Korra considers that, like it's something that needs to be contemplated, then she nods. "Alright, then. I'll be nice."

~~~

Asami doesn't tell Kuv this time, about the sex or the crying. Although, she's sure Kuv can guess on the sex part. No one's particularly interested in that, though, because the real issues are the big games coming up. With Zhu Li most likely out for the rest of the season, it's looking a bit tough. They barely scraped by in the tournament, and with everyone bringing their A-game at the end of the season, it's not going to be an easy ride.

Practice is rough, nothing but drills and scrims and everyone's tense because nothing seems to be coming out right.

"Clear the fucking path!" Kuv shouts at a rookie, and Asami has to skate over to calm her down.

"It's alright, we're all a bit tired," she says.

"If she's tripping you out there because she's _tired_ , we're going to have a lot of problems."

"Kuv - "

"We have _three_ days, Sams. And one of them is travel. I know you're boning the competition, but you at least have to still want to win." Asami's half-way to being mad when Kuv's face lights up and the whole team looks like they're about to lose their shit. "C'mon, you didn't think we'd let you slip by, did you?"

Asami rolls her eyes. "Alright, alright. Everyone get a good laugh in, then get - " She puts her face in her hand and laughs to herself. "You're an ass, Kuv," she says, shaking her head. "I hope you know that."

Kuv mock frowns. "I know Sami-Wami."

Asami pulls a face, but she can't hold it since it's _Kuv_. "Apologize to the rookie, then get out there and block for me, will ya?"

Kuv rolls her eyes. "She doesn't deserve an apology, and I think - maybe we should call it a night. Start fresh tomorrow morning." There's a collective sigh of relief because that's apparently what everyone was thinking, and Asami waves her hand dismissing the girls from practice. Kuv rests her head against Asami's shoulder. "You think we'll win?" she asks. "Like honestly, what do you think?"

Asami shrugs. "Yeah, Kuv. Of course."

It's not surprising when they walk out to find reporters lined up for the scoop. Everyone's still excited about _the rivalry_ , especially since Korra likes talking shit, and _especially_ since Asami's proved efficient at putting her in her place. Most the team ducks by with their heads down trying to avoid the pack, but Asami - she's got a different idea. Everyone's wanted the statement from her all season, so she's going to give one.

She spots the most least suspecting reporter and gives Kuv's shoulder a hard shove as she winks and jogs over to him. He looks down right startled when she gets all up in his shit, fumbles with a recorder before he shoves it in his pocket and shakily takes out a note pad. "So - so, you looking forward to playing against Korra?" he asks.

At this point reporters are circling around her, and Asami's actually sort of buzzing with the attention. She sucks in some air all slow like, really making this guy sweat, then she shrugs. "You know," she says, "I'm always looking forward to playing Korra. There's something about - she's just amazing, really."

"She's um - " the reporter fumbles. "Well she - "

"Don't you think so too?" Asami asks.

The reporter blinks like it takes him a moment to realize she really wants an answer and then he flushes a shade of red that has Asami a little worried. "Y-yeah, of course she's amazing. I've seen her play a few times. In person."

"Try actually being out there with her. It's intense."

"I bet," he says. "So - so."

"I mean her skating's fantastic and she's a fast thinker and she really knows how to get around the pack. She's taught me a lot about myself, too. Makes me push even harder, strive to be better. In a way, she's even helped me be a better captain."

"Oh well, that sounds - "

"Of course, I'm going to completely wreck her in playoffs. I'm not even worried about her or the Metal Banshees in general, for that matter." Asami gives it her best hair flip and winks for a picture, then she runs off to her car, adrenaline pumping when Kuv jumps on her back and calls her a _fucking idiot._

"You're just stirring up all kinds of shit, you know that? The Beifongs are probably going to have it out for you, shit the whole Metal Banshee squad."

Asami shrugs Kuv off her back and punches her shoulder. "Yeah, well fuck them."

"Well," Kuv says properly, straightening up. "I hope your lady friend is worth the beat down you're going to get on the track."

"That felt amazing though, just talking shit. It's like being a rookie again, you know? Free to say what I want without worrying about consequences."

"Yeah except there's consequences," Kuv points out.

~~~

Asami's in a diner with the team when Korra responds to it. The Banshees completely steamrolled a team in their first playoff game and Zhu Li's got Korra's interview pulled up on her iPad. Korra's still sweating with all her gear on while everyone's crowded around her.

"I'm just excited she's not acting like a dead fish anymore," Korra says. Then she throws her had back as she laughs and yells, "We've got a live one boys!" And everyone around her starts cheering. Asami can't even hide her smile, or the blush that's creeping up her cheeks. The team's all giving her shit for it so she has to sneak outside to shoot Korra a text.

 _Fuck you,_ she says, because it's appropriate.

Korra shoots back a _(;_ and Asami has to stop herself from taking a selfie in the middle of the street.

She can control herself. She can't control her girlfriend.

But that's fine with her.

She shoves her phone back in her pocket and smiles to herself, then she goes back in and tries to get the girls pumped for tomorrow night.

~~~

It's unusual, but pretty much everyone knows it's over a little over two quarters into the bout. It's not a shit show, it's just - they're getting completely outplayed.

It's not even close.

In a fucking strange turn of events the Spirits get knocked out first round and it's not even by the Metal Banshees. It's the fucking _Air Terrors_ that do it. Asami has to practically fight her way through a mob to make if through the reporters, actually manages to duck everyone - including most of her team - on the way to her car. She's. It's fucking surreal. This entire season has been the craziest roller-coaster ride of her life and she - honestly she just spends the car ride home blasting Taylor Swift and singing with her windows down because she's fairly sure she's finally broken. This did it, there's no turning back anymore.

She's already making her plans for going into hiding when she finds Korra outside her door, with Chinese. Oh, yeah. She has a girlfriend.

"Thought you might want something to eat while we talk about how much you suck," Korra says.

She probably meant to say _it's okay_ or _i'm here for you_ or _you can cry on my shoulder_ , Asami assures herself. "Thanks," she says flatly. "You always know when to say the right thing."

"Aw, c'mon, I'm just fucking with you." Korra walks forward and pulls Asami into a one armed hug, then she ruffles her hair and kisses her forehead. "You know I'm your biggest fan, and I'm still around. So there's no point in being upset."

Asami actually manages a smile. "It stings a bit, but I'll get over it eventually I guess."

"Heeey, no worries alright. I'm going to bring home the trophy so, you know, it stays in the family." She pauses and looks off all contemplative before turning back to Asami. "Well I'll bring it home _if_ a certain person's willing to show up to all my games in a cheerleader skirt." Asami shoves her away and walks over to unlock her door and Korra leans close enough that Asami actually fumbles her keys. "So you're gonna _wreck_ me, huh?"

Asami opens her door and drops her bag as she walks through. "You came here to rub it in, alright. Just get it all out of your system."

Korra stops short, halfway through the door. "No," she says slowly. "I came here to feed you and make jokes until you don't feel like crying anymore." Asami looks over and, in this moment, Korra looks so young, like all she knows is jokes and winning and having a good time, and she's never ever had to deal with a bad situation before. It's actually sort of refreshing. "I could leave if you want me to."

"No," Asami says, and tilts her head. "I want you here. You have food, I have wine. It's like our first date. Kind of."

Korra walks to the living area and places the food down on the table, then she awkwardly puts her hands in her pockets. "I don't - I don't know how to do this. I was going to - I wrote out this thing about how it's going to be okay, but I panicked and - "

Oh come on, it's seriously impossible to be that cute. Everything about this girl is - ugh. " _Korra_ ," Asami says, more affectionately than she means, but fuck it, her rookies being all _rookie_. "It's alright. It'd be weird if you were like, if you know. Just - I like when you make me laugh, okay?"

They kiss after that, and then they eat and kiss some more and watch TV and then they end up in Asami's bed and this time Asami doesn't ruin the mood and she doesn't cry and she makes it the whole night being completely happy.

~~~

It's not until two days later when Korra has to go off to play that Asami officially mopes about her loss. She goes to Kuv's apartment and crashes on her couch and avoids talking about anything that has to do with roller derby because she can't stomach it right now. With Korra not around to take her mind off it, she's a bit lost. Which is exactly why she tells Kuv about her father's house and they end up raiding all of his expensive wine collection in the cellar and cuddling up on the couch to watch cartoons.

"This was a weird season," Kuv says. "Like, I don't know how to feel."

"Korra wanted me to go to her games, but - " Asami waves her hand through the air before letting it drop roughly. "I just can't be around it right now."

"It's understandable."

"She understands," Asami says. "She's perfect."

Kuv rolls her eyes. "Oh come on, nobody's _perfect_."

Asami laughs and slaps at her thigh. She's only a tiny bit tipsy. "Oh yeah, Hannah Montana? You gonna tell me about my own girl now?" She smiles oddly to herself, pleased with the feeling of referring to Korra as her girl.

"I'm not saying she's not _great_ , but perfect is a lot to put on someone."

"I hope they beat the Air Terrors." Asami frowns. "Korra's good enough, right? She can do that. Maybe I _should_ show up to the games."

"Hey," Kuv says, nurturing, "you don't have to do anything you don't want to. She'll get that - it's alright."

Asami knows she gets it. She's just getting used to having a girlfriend, being in a relationship. This year's been weird because before Korra she just had Kuv and she had derby and she had the anger about her father that she still couldn't get over. And it's like Korra put everything in perspective. And now Asami's even closer with Kuv and she's not clutching as desperately to derby and she's getting over her father and - she's not sure if that's her or if that's Korra. Her problem's that she can't figure out why she's suddenly changing so much. For the better.

The only solution is to send Korra a selfie of her and Kuv with a really expensive bottle of wine along with the caption: _we're here 4 u if u need us._

Korra texts back an hour later and says: _no worries,_ _told you we're going all the way. you can count on that_.

And that somehow comforts Asami. When Kuv falls asleep on her shoulder she takes out her phone again and starts looking on amazon for cheer skirts. Just in case Korra goes to the championship. Just in case Asami needs to be there to make sure she wins. Just in case Korra wants to fuck her with the little skirt still on. It's going to be a thing. 

It's going to be a very good thing.

When she finds the perfect skirt she screenshots it and then texts it to Korra along with: _when you win (;_

Then she puts her phone away and closes her eyes, listens to Kuv's breathing next to her as she thinks about how the DeadlySpirits are going to win the championship next year. Because there's always next year. 

**Author's Note:**

> okay, first korrasami fic. this is a journey. be nice pls (8


End file.
